It’s late evening in the city of Prayagraj and the roadside vendors selling snacks are packing up their wares to shut for the night.

Millions of pilgrims hoping to cleanse their sins by ritual baths at India's Kumbh Mela festival rely on key lavatory workers to clear up behind them -- those born on the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system.

Naked Hindu ascetics and pilgrims took dips in the freezing waters at the confluence of sacred rivers in northern India on Tuesday, in the first major bathing day of the Maha Kumbh festival, which is the largest religious congregation on Earth.

It’s late evening in the city of Prayagraj and the roadside vendors selling snacks are packing up their wares to shut for the night. Under the large fig trees, between two paved streets, a group

Tens of thousands of naked Hindu ascetics and millions of pilgrims took dips in freezing water at the confluence of sacred rivers in northern India on Tuesday.

India's Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival, is set to be the world's largest gathering of humanity, with 400 million visitors expected at the six-week event that began this week in the northern city of Prayagraj.

Nearly 15 million Hindus, six times the number expected, took a dip in freezing waters seeking absolution of their sins on Monday, the first day of India's festival that could draw the world's largest single gathering of humanity.

Scores of naked Hindu ascetics smeared in holy ash charged into the water of holy rivers in northern India on Tuesday, dreadlocks flying, during the first 'royal bath' of the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival.