A vermilion dot on the forehead is one of India’s most widely accepted Hindu cultural insignias. But at the festival, where millions are flocking to pray and bathe at the confluence of India’s holy rivers, it morphs into a major display of Hinduism in various forms and designs.

Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta, joined by Senior Assistant Editor Soumya Pillai, discusses factors contributing to Yamuna’s sorry state & political blame game around it.

At least 17 people were killed and many more injured in a stampede at India's Maha Kumbh festival, the world's largest religious gathering, a doctor at a government hospital said, as tens of thousands of pilgrims rushed to dip in sacred river waters during the Hindu event.

Hindu devotees and mystics have gathered in the northern Indian city of Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh festival, which is the largest religious congregation on Earth.

Officials had been preparing for months for the world’s largest religious festival, with around 400 million Hindu pilgrims expected to take part

Several people are feared dead and many more injured as tens of thousands of Hindus rushed to take a holy bath in the river at the massive Maha Kumbh festival in India.

Delhi Chief Minister Atishi on Monday accused the BJP of committing "water terrorism" against the people of Delhi by releasing polluted water into the river Yamuna through its government in Haryana, and claimed that the water treatment process at three major plants is on the brink of shut down.

The issue took a sharp political turn on Monday, with AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal accusing the BJP-led Haryana government of deliberately contaminating Yamua's water, being supplied to Delhi.

At least 30 people have been killed and dozens more injured in crowd crushes at the Maha Kumbh Mela in India, where millions have gathered to bathe at the confluence of sacred rivers.

The world's largest religious gathering, the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India, turned deadly Wednesday, with officials confirming at least 30 deaths and 60 people injured in a stampede on the biggest day of the festival.

The Hindu festival that turned deadly in northern India on Wednesday is a religious gathering with deep spiritual meaning for devotees who come by the millions to take a cleansing dip in waters they consider sacred.