Over several weeks in January and February a staggering 660 million people, according to official stas, made their way to the Indian city of Prayagraj for the Kumbh Mela. Even taking into account that some portion of those people were repeat visitors, perhaps half of all the Hindus in the entire world, more than the entire population of North America, attended the Kumbh. On some individual days nearly as many people as live in the state of California or in the entire nation of Canada took a dip at the physical confluence of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna. 

These people arrived by every means possible. The wealthier flew into Allahabad airport (the airport still goes by a previous name of Prayagraj) and took vans, taxis, or scooters, at much inflated prices, to the mela grounds several kilometers away. Others took one of the trains or buses, packed to the limit even with additional routes added. A great many people simply walked to Prayagraj — a river of humanity in constant flow along the sides of the streets leading to the Sangam — and then walked home again. 

It was the largest single display of spiritual belief and practice the world has ever seen. 

And what was the media response? Outside of Indian media, which covered all aspects of the Kumbh in great detail, the talk was to a sad degree the same tired stories: poverty, pollution, superstition, overpopulation, chaos. 

Where were the articles about how pilgrims to the Kumbh could easily spend days at the event being fed for free by any one of the scores of Hindu religious orders giving out free meals? About the extensive efforts taken to clean up the millions upon millions of offerings made by pilgrims on the river banks, so that each successive wave could have a pleasant experience and the sacred rivers given the respect they deserve ? About the how the mela grounds featured some 3000 kitchens, 150,000 toilets, 11 hospitals, as well as kilometers upon kilometers of roads, electric supply, water supply, telecoms facilities, all efficiently created specifically for the event and dismantled afterwards? 

And what were the scholars and activists commenting on, the ones who claim that the Hindu Dharma Traditions oppresses women, is rooted in caste oppression, and excludes other faiths?

Not the fact that there were many female officiants, gurus, and sadhvis present at the mela, some leading daily ceremonies, addressing crowds, and getting the same respect as their male counterparts. That there were entire Sikh religious orders attending the Kumbh for the length of the festival. That Buddhist monks attended. And foreign dignitaries from multiple faiths all attended. That nowhere on the mela grounds did class, caste, or community distinctions play a role, and that regardless of community background everyone was interacting peaceably with each other, often literally within arms reach of one another, sometimes much much closer. 

If caste discrimination is a central feature of Hinduism, how could this intimate commingling ever have happened? (Again, approximately 1 in 2 Hindus in the world attended, based on official stats.) If Sikhs and Hindus are in existential conflict, why would Sikhs happily attend, as they have for every past mela in memory. If there’s a Hindu-Buddhist divide, why were leaders from Buddhist nations participating? If there the average Hindu really has deep enmity towards their Muslim neighbors, where was that in Prayagraj, which is 13% Muslim? 

The answer is that those divides and that discrimination, to whatever degree rooted in reality in certain places, are not anywhere as deep or pervasive as they are made out to be. 

The truth is that neither the Western media, nor many scholar-activists, have an interest in showing Hinduism or India as it is. The reality is that the Kumbh Mela shatters nearly every one of their stereotypes. 

The 2025 Kumbh Mela was a celebration of spirituality and devotion on a concentrated scale never before seen in human history. But the fact of the matter is that following the headlines in the West would never tell you that. 

Indeed there were some mishaps and tragedy (one stampede on the mela grounds, and one at New Delhi due to delays on a train going to the mela). This of course did not slip from legacy media’s attention. But the story of the 2025 Kumbh Mela as a celebration of spirituality and devotion on a concentrated scale never before seen in human history was not the one headlines were invested in telling.