Holy sights, sounds and smells: Tools for sacred marks, sandalwood paste, vermillion powder and metal stamps of Hindu gods’ names are placed in a tray by a Hindu priest at the Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj, India. — AP
The pilgrims come and go as strangers. They march like a sea of people, walking towards the spot where they take holy baths, drawn by the hope that the bathing would bring them salvation.
But when they leave – believing their sins have been cleansed by the redemptive bath – they leave with one thing in common: their foreheads display a sacred stroke of colour.
