Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati addresses sexual abuse allegations, asserting his innocence and claiming the charges are fabricated. An FIR was lodged against him and his disciple following a court order.
A public interest litigation was moved before the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court Tuesday, seeking a high-level judicial probe into Sunday's stampede at the Kumbh Mela that left 36 dead and 39 injured.
During this day, elated Hindu monks and pilgrims take holy dip in Ganges to wash away their sins and make offerings to the gods.
Over 70 lakh people took dip at the holy 'Sangam' on the last of the 'Shahi Snan' during the on-going Kumbh mela in Allahabad on Friday.
Pilgrims at the ongoing Maha Kumbh mela in Allahabad faced a tough time on Wednesday due to the nationwide strike called by central trade unions which has brought movement of Uttar Pradesh roadways buses to a standstill.
A sea of pilgrims converged at Sangam for a holy dip on Friday on the occasion of Basant Panchami joined by ascetics belonging to various sects for their third and last Shahi Snan of Maha Kumbh, where a sadhu was killed in a fire in the wee hours.
They are protesting against the Centre's move to take over lands of Hindu muths and temples all over the country.
Since the beginning of the Maha Kumbh last month, many influencers, models and actors have had their brief moment in the sun of virality: model-turned-sadhvi Harsha Richaria, garland seller Mona Lisa, 'IIT baba' Abhay Singh and actor Mamata Kulkarni to name a few.
Security has been beefed up at all the sensitive places, including national capital New Delhi and Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, as a precautionary measure since early morning on Saturday after the execution of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
In the midst of the ongoing controversy over Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's remarks on 'Hindu terror' and the offensive launched by the Bharatiya Janata Party and other Hindu organisations asking that the home minister be sacked, Congress president Sonia Gandhi will visit Allahabad for the ongoing Kumbh Mela which is currently on and has attracted crores of devotees. Renu Mittal reports.
The eight-week-long festival is beginning from Monday, in which thousands of devotees will bathe at the Sangam -- the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
Security has been tightened in Haridwar for the first day of the Shahi Snan (Royal Bath) on Friday, as thousands of devotees are expected to take a dip in the River Ganga to mark the festival of Maha Shivratri. Around 10,000 security personnel have been deployed in Haridwar to thwart any kind of untoward incident when devotees, including ash-covered Naga sadhus participate in the festivities
'Suddenly, she arrives in India, participates in the Maha Kumbh and is given the position of Mahamandleshwar.' 'This needs investigation.'
The first 'shahi snan' of the ongoing Kumbh Mela began in Nashik on Saturday with thousands of devotees, including 'mahants' of various akhadas, thronging the ghats of the River Godavari to take the holy dip.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is finally off to United States to narrate the success story of the 2013 Kumbh Mela at the HarvardUniversityBusinessSchool on April 26.
Over two crore Hindu devotees took their cherished holy dip at the 'Sangam' in Allahabad on Sunday on 'Mauni Amavasya', widely believed to be the most auspicious of all days at the 55-day long Kumbh Mela.
The hanging of Afzal Guru has prompted the Uttar Pradesh government to beef up security in and around the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, where nearly two crore people are expected to be converging over the next 24 hours to take a dip on what is considered the 'most auspicious' day of the 55-day-long festival that began on January 14.
India's Deepavali (Diwali), the festival of light, has been inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during a meeting held at the Red Fort in Delhi.
Four youths with suspected terror links who were allegedly conspiring to strike in the mela area were held by a joint team of Delhi Police Special Cell and Uttarakhand police on Tuesday night from Manglour town in Haridwar district.
Legendary Indian boxer MC Mary Kom has called for greater recognition for boxing in India, stating her goal is to make the sport as popular as cricket.
Traditionally the biggest of all the sacred bathing days in the 50-day long Mela, Mauni Amavasya this time holds greater significance as it falls on a Monday and that too during the Kumbh - a rather rare combination on many accounts.
In the wake of mounting pressure from Sangh outfits, the MP government may take a fresh decision on the fate of the marketing contract with a Lintas subsidiary for Simhastha Kumbh Mela in Ujjain.
With the surge in tourist footfalls to Varanasi in 2022, it almost rivals the arrivals in Agra and puts it way ahead of Prayagraj and Ayodhya.
Raja Ram Tiwari has helped as many as ten lakh lost people find their family members in the confusion and clamour of such holy gatherings, says Sharat Pradhan
By any standards, the crowd was far bigger than what the festival has witnessed ever since it began on January 3.
A division bench of Justices A S Oka and V L Achliya said the state government will have to take prior permission from the court if it wanted to use the dam water for Kumbh Mela.
Composer Sidhant Bhatia, singer Raja Kumari, singer-producer Raghav Mehta and mixing engineer Deepak PA talk about Sounds of Kumbha, which is shortlisted for the Grammys in the Best Global Music Album category.
A total of about seven crore Hindus are expected to converge in Allahabad.
Ahead of the Kumbh Mela from January-March 2019 at Prayag, the tanneries have been asked to shut down to stop discharge of effluents into the Ganga.
The president of the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, Mahant Ravindra Puri, has demanded the evacuation of mosques built on ancient temples across India. Puri, who is also the president of the Mansa Devi Temple Trust in Haridwar, claims that around 80% of mosques in India are built on temples and that their domes resemble those of temples. He has appealed to Muslims to hand over such structures to Hindus and has called for the formation of a "Sanatan Board" to protect Hindu religious institutions. Puri also denied banning Muslims from attending the Maha Kumbh Mela, saying that they are welcome to visit and learn about Hinduism.
Mark Tully, the renowned journalist, author, and Indophile, has passed away at the age of 90. He spent a lifetime in India as a journalist, mingling with its people and telling their stories.
Pramod Prasad wishes some things could have been different.
The Ganga water at the Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj, where lakhs of people are taking a holy dip every day during the ongoing Maha Kumbh, is currently unsafe for bathing as it exceeds the prescribed limit for biological oxygen demand (BOD), a key parameter to determine water quality, according to government data.
The 'Amrit Snan' by saints and seers of all 13 akharas on Mauni Amavasya, which was deferred after a stampede at the Maha Kumbh, concluded at the Sangam on Wednesday evening, officials said.
This is not the first time that a large number of people have died in stampedes at temples and other religious gatherings over the years in India.
Among heavy criticism of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's remarks on Prayagraj's Mahakumbh, Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati Maharaj on Wednesday supported the CM, saying that the religious event has been mismanaged.
Elaborate arrangements including a special traffic plan have been chalked out for Maghi Purnima on Wednesday and health personnel have been put on alert for the occasion when the month-long 'kalpavas', an integral tradition of the Maha Kumbh, comes to an end.
'Initially, some staircases of platforms were closed to manage the crowd. However, due to delays, more passengers were attempting to take the staircases. At the last moment, the closed staircases were opened, which caused congestion and the crowd swelled'
Every 12 years comes a mystical, mind-boggling phenomenon. It is the Maha Kumbh Mela. Harvard experts map the exotic and the mundane at the spectacle. Arthur J Pais reports
With 100 million pilgrims expected to come in from all over the country for this bathing festival on Friday, the Uttar Pradesh government faces an uphill task to get the things moving smoothly after the tragedy during 'Mauni Amavasya' holy dip.
