The Gangasagar Mela

Held every year on 14–15 January to mark Makar Sankranti
The mela deserves its own category. In 2026, newspaper reports counted around 1.3 crore devotees. The scale defies ordinary description: the beach fills with pilgrims wading into the sea in the hours around dawn, ash-smeared Naga sadhus processing to the water, kirtan music rising from a thousand ashram tents, the smell of campfire and incense and marigold garlands, pandas (hereditary guides) chanting prayers over families entering the water, stallholders selling everything from prasad to plastic deity figurines. The scale of the logistics is immense, involving special trains from all over India, thousands of buses and government ferries operating continuously.