The Traditional Sari Is on Colorful Display at a Massive Hindu Festival in India

The Associated Press

15:11 JST, February 17, 2025

PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP) — The traditional colorful Indian fabric worn by women is ubiquitous to the world’s largest religious gathering in northern India’s Prayagraj city, where millions of Hindus are thronging to seek absolution from their sins and take dips in the holy waters.

This display of Indian women’s most idiosyncratic garment — known as the sari — is, however, seen mostly when it is sun-dried right on the sandy banks at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers after women bathe.

Pilgrims, particularly women, are seen sun-drying saris on bamboo rods and on the ground. Some hold the fabrics on both sides and shake it to remove any folds before letting it dry. Others just spread it on the river bank and the let the sun do its job, before it is packed in their bags and in some cases worn again.

The Maha Kumbh festival, which began on Jan. 13 and is held every 12 years, ends on Feb. 26. The authorities expect more than 400 million people to attend. Hindus believe that bathing at the confluence of the rivers will cleanse them of their sins and release them from the cycle of rebirth.

The festival also sees millions of Hindu women taking a dip in the waters, often draped in a sari.

Saris have remained traditional dresses for women in India and other South Asian countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

It is also one of the modest-dress customs of India’s both Hindu and Muslim communities, but at the Maha Kumbh festival, the textile is also symbolic of Hindu culture. Each sari color has a significance, with red and yellow believed to be most auspicious.

The festival has its roots in a Hindu tradition that says the god Vishnu wrested a golden pitcher containing the nectar of immortality from demons. Hindus believe that a few drops fell in the cities of Prayagraj, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar — the four places where the Kumbh festival has been held for centuries.