3️⃣ *India's vast Kumbh Mela Hindu festival is set to wrap up,* with final ritual river bathing ceremonies *ending six weeks of celebration* that organisers say have been *attended by hundreds of millions of devotees.* 🇮🇳 *Despite two deadly stampedes that killed dozens,* the festival in the northern city of Prayagraj *has been hailed as a triumph by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party,* bolstering its carefully cultivated image as a steward of Hindu resurgence and prosperity. *The Kumbh Mela, held every 12 years,* is rooted in *Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons* for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality. Both *Modi and his ally, firebrand Hindu monk Yogi Adityanath* -- chief minister of India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh where the festival is being held -- *say the millennia-old Mela has been the _"grandest"_ yet.*