More than 80 percent of India’s 1 billion people are Hindus. Most of them are deeply religious in nature. They take part in religious festivals with great participation.

Ardha Kumbh is one of most popular religious festivals in India and it happens every three years. Millions of Indians come to take a dip in the Sangam of Holy Rivers from hundreds of miles.

The most important part of the Kumbh festival is the gathering of thousands of Sadhus, or holy men. The holy men dressed in saffron robes gather from almost every part of India.

People and Sadhus, both, come to Allahabad city to just wash away their sins in the six week-long Ardh Kumbh Mela.

Several Sadhus show off their various talents such as one of the religious man was sitting on a swing made of nails above a fire for weeks. Another was looking as holding an arm above his shoulders for long.

Many sadhus have come at the Kumbh who had his name in the Guiness Book of Records for continuously standing for 17 years.

Indian media as well as international media just wait for the religious gathering to cover the lifestyles and traditions of these religious men in India.

Surinder Nath, head of Delhi University’s anthropology department said that

this festival is the world’s biggest gathering of sadhus. They come from all over India, some from caves in the Himalayas. For Indians, these saints can help them, whether to bring rains or cure illnesses.

He said further that some by carrying out these unconventional and peculiar practices try to show the world that they can overcome worldly restrictions.

They show us that they can control their bodies in ways, which we cannot.

The sadhus are, said to be, renounced the materialistic world and hope to break the cycle of life and death.

They pray, take offerings from followers, meditate and offer cures for illnesses to common people.

Ram Puri, a California-born Sadhu, who came to India 30 years back, said that

I have had experience with sex, drugs and political activism and today all these things don’t matter to me.

Among them, the Naga Sadhus sect looks naked while rubbed their bodies with ash. They are considered to have conquered earthly life.

However, after all these shows at Kumbh festival, anyone can easily feel the presence of spirituality here at the Sangam of three Holy Rivers in Allahabad.

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