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.

Maha Kumbh, the largest gathering of people anywhere on Earth, is expected to draw more than 400 million devotees to India’s Uttar Pradesh

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.

The 'royal bath' is a key part of the event, held every 12 years in the city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, significant because Hindus believe it confers salvation from the cycle of birth and death, in addition to absolution of sins.

Millions of Hindu pilgrims gathered on Tuesday at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and Sarasvati rivers to take part in the first holy bath of the Kumbh Mela, the world's largest religious gathering.

Naked Hindu ascetics and pilgrims are taking holy dips in sacred rivers in the first major bathing day of the Maha Kumbh festival, which is the largest religious congregation on Earth.