21st Century Kumbh - Giles Price Photography

Occurring every 12 years, the spectacular Kumbh Mela – a Hindu pilgrimage to the confluence of the holy Ganga, Jamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers – is the largest human gathering on earth. At the 2013 festival, 100 million performed traditional, ceremonial bathing rites in the holy waters, having travelled thousands of kilometres from all over India and across the globe.

Pilgrims gather and stay in the Kumbh Nagar a 58km2 ‘pop-up’ tented-city built on the dried river-bed of the Ganga, this huge, temporary construction is made up of Akhara’s (spiritual centers), pilgrim encampments, hospitals, police stations, post offices, fires stations, restaurants, shops, banks, railway offices and bathing areas .

21st Century Kumbh offers an insight into the delicate equilibrium of tradition and technology, religious and civil organisation that exists within it. This is a snapshot of a changing India, at a point when its religious heritage and technological development are battling to find a crucial balance.

21st Century Kumbh

Kumbh Nagar, Akhara Encampments, sector 4 (temporay)

Pilgrim - Ramaldoo Das, from Bihar

Pilgrims arriving and departing, sector 5

Akhara religious centre (temporary)

Sadhu - Haribhajam Das, from Ayodhya

Pilgrim, Mamta Dubey and infant

Pilgrims resting and eating, sector 2

Unknown Pilgrim

Pilgrims bathing, Sangam main bathing area

Unknown Pilgrim

Pilgrims - Aunj Kumar & Khusboo Awastihi, from Hardoi & Bareilly

Sangam area, morning of Feburary 10th 2013, the main bathing day

Naga sadhu performing a puja

Pilgrim - Bhagwatsharan, from Ayodhya

Ramayana play performed in an Akhara theatre (temporary)

Traveller - Victoria Havercroft, from UK

Vodafone kiosk, main marketplace (temporary)

Pilgrim - Suresh Venkat, from Mumbai

Pilgrim - Ashish Antia-Mody, from Mumbai

Reserve Bank of India kiosk, main marketplace (temporary)

Unknown Pilgrim

Pilgrim - Ankita Singh, from Allahabad

Coca Cola advertising banners hang from the railway bridge, sector 10

Cement bag weightings in the River Ganges

Unknown western pilgrim

Head of Police - R.K.S. Rathore S.S.P.

Police control massed crowds at the Sangam main bathing area, sunrise February 10th, main bathing day

Pilgrim - Ram Katori Bhai, lost from Gawaliar

Pilgrim - Lely Kumar, lost from Kasi

Burnt down Akhara, Kumbh Nagar, sector 4

Fireman - Bharat Rai

Central Hospital (temporay)

Head of Medical & Health Services - Dr Suresh Dwivedi

Office of Medical & Health Services

Assistant Malaria Officer - Anand Kumar Singh

Head of Medical Sanitation Store - Dr Arun Kumar

Morning anti-dust spraying of temporary roads

Journalist - Vimal Srivastava

International Media Centre (temporary)

Chief Administrator of Kumbh Mela - Mani Prasad Mishra

The Sangam - the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers

21st Century Kumbh

Occurring every 12 years, the spectacular Kumbh Mela – a Hindu pilgrimage to the confluence of the holy Ganga, Jamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers – is the largest human gathering on earth. At the 2013 festival, 100 million performed traditional, ceremonial bathing rites in the holy waters, having travelled thousands of kilometres from all over India and across the globe.

Pilgrims gather and stay in the Kumbh Nagar a 58km2 ‘pop-up’ tented-city built on the dried river-bed of the Ganga, this huge, temporary construction is made up of Akhara’s (spiritual centers), pilgrim encampments, hospitals, police stations, post offices, fires stations, restaurants, shops, banks, railway offices and bathing areas .

21st Century Kumbh offers an insight into the delicate equilibrium of tradition and technology, religious and civil organisation that exists within it. This is a snapshot of a changing India, at a point when its religious heritage and technological development are battling to find a crucial balance.