At Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest congregation of religious pilgrims, a troupe of theatre actors stage a play based on an origin myth of Hinduism – the churning of the cosmic ocean. The legend tells of an epic battle between the gods and the demons for an elixir of immortality. The mela (or fair) is celebrated at the site where the elixir was believed to have fallen. Today, millions of Hindu pilgrims gather there to bathe in the holy river over a two-month period.

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