The World - News from Feb. 7, 1989

Millions of Hindus--holy men from their Himalayan cave homes, naked recluses from forest dens and ordinary pilgrims from across India--began to converge near the confluence of two sacred rivers for ritual bathing. Police reported that two people died in the early hours of the mass bathing. It is the high point of the seven-week Kumbh Mela festival, held every 12 years, which the Guinness Book of World Records calls the largest religious gathering on Earth. The faithful believe that a dip at the confluence of the Ganges and Jamuna rivers on this astrologically auspicious day will free them from the cycle of reincarnation and allow them to achieve salvation.