The Kumbh Mela, a mass Hindu pilgrimage gathering held every 12 years, has long tested the limits of crowd control. The 1954 stampede was the deadliest in its history.
On February 3, 1954, during the main bathing day of Mauni Amavasya, an estimated 4–5 million pilgrims gathered for the first Kumbh after India’s Independence.
The festival, already bursting with religious fervour, became a political spectacle, with top leaders descending on Allahabad, now known as Prayagraj.
Then came the surge. The Ganga at that time had shifted course, squeezing available space in the temporary township. A large crowd, separated from a procession of Naga Sadhus by makeshift barriers, broke loose as a grand procession of sadhus and holy men passed by.
The crush that followed killed an unknown number, because official figures remain disputed, ranging from hundreds to over a thousand. Some say 800, some 100 and some 350.
Bags and other belongings lying at the scene after a stampede occurred at Sangam on 'Mauni Amavasya' during the ongoing 'Maha Kumbh Mela' festival, in Prayagraj on Wednesday (PTI)
Among them was Uma Bhattacharya, from Ballygunge in Kolkata. She had left her 10-year-old daughter, Krishna, behind to pray at the Kumbh for her husband, Sunil, who had lost all his money in a business that had failed. Uma’s body was never found.
The horror of that moment was captured by N.N. Mukherjee, a photographer from Amrit Bazar Patrika, who had climbed a tower near the Sangam Chowki. "I get goosebumps even today recalling how I took photographs by crisscrossing over the bodies of dying or dead men, women, and children," he later wrote in Chayakriti.
His narrative was reproduced by Scroll.in in 2019.
“At around 10.20 am, Nehru-ji and Rajendra Babu’s car came in from the Triveni Road, went past the barrier and headed for the Kila Ghat. A large number of onlookers, who had been stopped on both sides of the barrier, began breaking past the barriers down towards the ghat. A procession of sadhus was moving on the other side of the barrier. The procession went awry due to the influx of the mammoth crowd. When the mob came crashing at the slope of the barricade, it appeared like waves made by standing crops when a storm strikes just before they tumbled. Those who fell could not rise again," Mukherjee recalled.
Then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had reportedly suggested that VIPs keep out of such melas and gatherings as much as possible.
The inquiry panel appointed by the UP government later did not find a direct link between VIP presence and the stampede.
The 2013 station stampede
Twelve years ago, the Kumbh saw another stampede — away from the river, at Prayagraj Junction.
On February 10, 2013, as pilgrims attempted to leave after their holy dip, the station’s footbridge became dangerously overcrowded. By evening, the pressure peaked.
A sudden jostle sent people tumbling down the stairs, others were crushed in the panic.
Thirty-six people died, many from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, and Maharashtra.
Officials blamed the evening rush. More than 40 million people were present in Allahabad during the incident.
The usual population of the city at that time was 1.2 million.