Sacred Strokes of Color on Foreheads Are a Major Display of Hinduism at India’s Maha Kumbh Festival PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP) — The pilgrims come and go as strangers. They march like a sea of ...

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. The pilgrims come and go as strangers. They march like a sea of people, walking toward the spot where they ...

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.

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 ...

A Hindu devotee gets a sacred mark on his forehead after bathing at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the Saraswati rivers during the 45-day-long Maha Kumbh festival in Prayagraj ...