PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP) — The pilgrims come and go as strangers. They march like a sea of people, walking toward 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 color.
This sacred stroke, called tilak, is ubiquitous to the millions of Hindu pilgrims attending the in India's , where faithful gather at the spot where the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers converge. Applied by Hindu priests using sandalwood paste, turmeric and sacred ashes, these strokes represent divine connections in Hinduism, with each type having its own symbolic association with a deity.
The festival, where a Wednesday, has historically embraced diversity in the ancient traditions of Hinduism. They allow plurality in belief and ritual practice of faith of Hindus, who comprise 80% of India’s population. The markings worn on the foreheads cut across castes and classes, many of them being unique identifiers of the numerous religious communities, all under the umbrella of Hinduism.
Hundreds of Hindu priests at the festival paint them on the foreheads of the pilgrims. Many consider it a selfless service to their religion — without which the pilgrimage is incomplete.
“Wash away your sins all you want, and do all the good deeds, but if you don’t put a tilak on your forehead after bathing, everything goes to a waste,†says priest Shiv Kumar Pandey.
A vermilion dot on the forehead is one of India’s most widely accepted Hindu cultural insignias. But at the festival, where millions are flocking to of India’s holy rivers, it morphs into a major display of Hinduism in various forms and designs.
Some pilgrims wear it in the form of three yellow horizontal lines. Others prefer two vertical white ones with a red or yellow stripe in the center. Then there is the large red vertical mark, or names of various Hindu gods written in Hindi and English.
Hindu priest Pandey, who sits cross-legged at a nearby stretch of the riverbank, can apply all of them.
For every pilgrim who visits him, he dips his fingers in the yellow vermillion paste and spreads a stroke on their forehead. He then uses a steel stamp to mark them with a symbol of the Hindu god they prefer — from Lord Shiva, the powerful Hindu god of destruction, to Ram, one of Hinduism's most revered gods.
The pilgrims give Pandey money, from one rupee coins to a 50-rupee note, small pouches of rice and pulses — even, at times, blankets. In return, he places his hand on their heads as they bow to seek his blessings.
According to Hindu scriptures, the tilak is supposed to “protect and purify the mind as well as the body,†Pandey says.
The Maha Kumbh festival began on Jan. 13 and continues over six weeks. About 400 million people — most of them from the country’s vast rural and remote locations — were expected to attend the festival where Hindu faith and spirituality reigns supreme.
Most pilgrims believe that a dip in the holy waters has to be followed by having a tilak pasted on their foreheads by a Hindu priest.
Sushila Chauhan sat quietly a short distance from where she had taken the holy dip, as hundreds of other pilgrims waded in the river, splashing the murky water over their heads and bodies, chanting Hindu prayers. She explained why the words “Mahakal†— a fierce manifestation of Hindu god Shiva — were pasted on her forehead.
“Because he is the god of the three worlds,†Chauhan says, referring to the deity's association with creation, preservation and destruction.
Chauhan came to the festival along with 52 other family members. With the sun low in the sky, a priest shuffled along the riverbank, his bare feet padding on the sand, and applied tilak on their foreheads one by one.
“It gives you concentration, peace of mind and satisfaction,†Chauhan says. “It is also a symbol of our religion.â€
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Associated Press writers Rishi Lekhi and Ashwini Bhatia contributed to this report.
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