Mysterious naked holy men a huge draw at India's Kumbh Mela

PRAYAGRAJ, India (Reuters) - Ash-smeared and dreadlocked Naga sadhus or Hindu ascetics, naked except for rosary beads and garlands and smoking wooden pipes, are a huge draw at the world's largest religious festival that began this week in India.

At the Kumbh Mela, or "festival of the pot", held this year in Prayagraj in north India, organisers expect up to 150 million people to bathe at the confluence of three holy rivers: the Ganges, the Yamuna and a mythical third river, the Saraswati.