Maha Kumbh Mela or Great Pitcher Festival begins in India on Monday, a Hindu sacred event that will be the world's largest gathering of humanity as it showcases religion, spirituality, tourism and crowd management.

While the Kumbh Mela festival is ordinarly held every three years, rotating between several holy cities on the banks of these rivers, the Maha Kumbh Mela occurs only once every 12 years. Maha means “great”, and the event attracts the most devotees because it is considered the most auspicious and holy in the cycle.

Millions of Hindu devotees and mystics have gathered in the northern Indian city of Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh festival, which is the largest religious congregation on earth

The Maha Kumbh Mela, or the Great Pitcher Festival, will bring more than 400 million people to Prayagraj city in northern India over a period of six weeks starting Monday, making it the largest gathering of humanity in the world.

Authorities in India are racing against time to get the city of Prayagraj ready to host the Hindu festival Kumbh Mela, described as humanity's biggest gathering. About 400 million pilgrims are expected to attend the 45-day spectacle,

Indian farmer Govind Singh travelled for nearly two days by train to reach what he believes is the "land of the gods" -- just one among legions of Hindu pilgrims joining the largest gathering of humanity.