A Sadhu – a Hindu holy man – gesturing before taking a dip during the second Shahi Snan (grand bath), of the ongoing Kumbh Mela or Pitcher Festival in the northern Indian city of Allahabad, yesterday. Officials said some 30 million pilgrims take a bracing plunge in India’s sacred Ganges River to wash away lifetimes of sins, in an ever-growing religious gathering that is already the world’s largest.

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