This is the particularly auspicious point (sangam means 'river confluence') where two of India’s holiest rivers, the Ganges and the Yamuna, meet one of Hinduism’s mythological rivers, the Saraswati. All year round, pilgrims row boats out to this holy spot, but their numbers increase dramatically during the annual Magh Mela, a six-week festival held between January and March, which culminates in six communal ‘holy dips’.
Every 12 years the massive Kumbh Mela takes place here, attracting millions of people, while the Ardh Kumbh Mela (Half Mela) is held here every six years.
In the early 1950s, 350 pilgrims were killed in a stampede trying to get to the soul-cleansing water, an incident re-created vividly in Vikram Seth’s essential novel A Suitable Boy. The auspicious 2013 Maha (Great) Kumbh Mela, which attracted about 32 million on Mauni Amavasya (the main bathing day) and 100 million across the 55-day festival, is considered to have been earth's largest-ever human gathering. The next Prayagraj Kumbh Mela is in 2025.
Old boathands will row you out to the sacred confluence for around ₹50 per person (hard-bargaining Indian) or ₹100 (hard-bargaining foreigner), or ₹600 to ₹800 per boat, depending on the season.
