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

Scores of naked Hindu ascetics smeared in holy ash charged into the water of holy rivers in northern India on Tuesday, dreadlocks flying, during the first 'royal bath' of the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival.

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