India Today

Power games in akharas

As someone who grew up in Allahabad, I have been aware of the Kumbh Mela for as long as I can remember. Indeed, one of my earliest Kumbh memories is of the ashen faces of my parents when, in the winter of 1954, they returned after having survived the stampede in which hundreds were crushed to death.

In fact, that stampede was related to

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