NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 14, 2004: The festival of Makar Sankranti was celebrated fervently throughout India recently. At Hardwar about 700,000 pilgrims and sadhus took a holy dip in the river Ganga to commemorate the beginning of the Ardh-Kumbh Mela. In West Bengal where the Ganga and Bay of Bengal meet, 200,000 devotees took a holy dip and performed puja at the Kapil Muni Temple. Around 5,000 police were employed to make sure the occasion was safe for the pilgrims. The Northern States of Rishikesh and Sonepat reported that people of all ages and sizes braved dense fog and cold winds to bathe in the Ganga and Yamuna rivers. In Gujarat the festival of Uttrayan, which marks a change in the direction of the sun, was celebrated with people flying kites.
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