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Tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims and holy men washed away their sins with a religious dip on the first main bathing day of India's Kumbh Mela festival yesterday.
Organisers had increased safety measures in a bid to avoid a repeat of a deadly stampede at the same venue 12 years ago, and said the mass event had so far passed without major incident.
"No, nothing like that, it all went well," said K. Moghe, the district information officer for Nashik in India's western Maharashtra state.
The Kumbh Mela - a celebration of faith in which Hindus bathe in a sacred river - is held every third year and is rotated between four holy sites.
As a result, it takes place at Nashik every 12 years and although it isn't on the same scale as the events on the Ganges at Haridwar and the Saraswati at Allahabad, it still draws millions of pilgrims.
Thirty-nine pilgrims were trampled to death when the religious festival was last held on the banks of the Godavari river in Nashik, around 160km from Mumbai, in 2003.
The crush was believed to have been triggered when a sadhu, or holy man, threw coins into a crowd of pilgrims who were growing increasingly impatient at having to wait for their turn to bathe.
When the coins were thrown they scrambled to gather them, resulting in dozens of people suffocating, according to reports.
Nashik is unique out of the four venues in that it has two main bathing sites, the Godavari river in Nashik and nearby Trimbakeshwar temple, stretching the emergency services across a wide area.
For this year's event, officials changed the routes to the bathing areas to avoid steep slopes, while a massive police presence of around 20,000 officers ensured little overcrowding and first aid workers stood ready.
Dreadlocked sadhus, naked and with their faces painted, were first to bathe, entering the water at Trimbakeshwar shortly before 4am.
Other sects quickly followed before being moved on hastily by police to make way for the next wave of devotees.


Tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims flock to holy bathing site in India to wash away sins

Hindu holy men take a dip in the Godavari river on the first day of the Kumbh Mela festival in Maharashtra state.Photo: Reuters

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