In a stark instance of faith overpowering fear, Bihar native Raushan Sah, whose brother was present in the Kumbh Mela area during the January 29 stampede in Mahakumbh Nagar on Monday took a holy dip at the Triveni Sangam along with his octogenarian mother and other family members.
Sah, who hails from Banka district, along with 10 other family members from Bihar, is now headed to Ayodhya.
"My elder brother and my nephew had visited Mahakumbh Nagar on Mauni Amavasya day and were near the place where the stampede had taken place. But, we wanted to take part in this mega gathering, hence we undertook the journey," he said.
PTI spoke to the family soon after they had taken a holy dip at the confluence of the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati during the mega congregation of the faithful which will culminate on February 26.
His 80-year-old mother, Chinta Devi, also took a dip at the Sangam.
At least 30 people died and 60 were injured in a stampede in Prayagraj last month, while 18 people lost their lives in a recent stampede at an overcrowded New Delhi railway station.
Asked if she was jittery about visiting the Kumbh Mela following the stampede incidents, Devi said,"'Mar jai ta tar jai' (If I die, I will get salvation). Death is god's will, so why feel afraid?"
Sah said many people in his hometown had dissuaded them from going to the Kumbh Mela fearing safety concerns.
"There was a sense of fear, of course. We saw the videos on the day of the stampede and immediately called our brother who luckily was safe and returned home. But, faith gives you strength, and it drove us to do this pilgrimage," he told PTI.
Several hundreds of pilgrims hailing from different parts of the country flooded the streets of Prayagraj near the Sangam site as they headed out towards their hometowns or next destination.
The road connecting Mutthiganj and Kydganj remained choked and closed to vehicular traffic, as Sah and his family negotiated the heavy crowd in the evening to reach Prayagraj Junction.
His brother-in-law, Saurabh Kumar, his wife and mother, and a child accompanied them on their journey to the holy Sangam that has so far drawn over 60 crore people to take a holy dip at the confluence.
Kumar, a Munger resident, echoed Sah's thoughts and left Prayagraj on Monday with faith in his heart and prayers on his lips.
"We still have a sense of fear, we have to face the massive crowds in the streets and then at the railway station and then inside the train. But, it is not stopping us from fulfilling our religious and spiritual wishes too," Kumar told PTI.
His mother, Usha Devi, 55, said all the pains felt while reaching Kumbh, eased after taking the holy dip.
"I don't know if I will be alive by the next Kumbh, so I came. My heart made me come here and it's God's invitation to be part of it. What happened before made us feel fear but faith gives us strength," she said, as the family rested for a while and ate 'bhandara khichdi' along a street near Mahakumbh Nagar.
Many from West Bengal and other states who visited Sangam also took a holy dip on Monday and expressed similar sentiments.
Krishna Chaudhary and Vishal Kumar Singh, both 18, with holy symbols embossed on their foreheads, briskly walked out of Mahakumbh Nagar, on their way to their hometown in Bihar's Chapra.
"'Dar ke kaunu baat naikhe ba' (There is nothing to fear here)," Chaudhary said in Bhojpuri when asked if the stampede incident of last month was weighing on his head.
Pawan Kumar Yadav, 20, wearing a vest bearing an image of Lord Shiva and a 'gamcha' with 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan printed on it, and Rohan Mallick, 21, both friends took a long journey to reach Prayagraj.
"I was in Jamshedpur and Rohan in Durgapur. We both converged at Asansol in West Bengal and were joined by family members. We then travelled to Naini and from there, we walked," Mallick said.
"We are going back satisfied and happy that we took a holy dip," Yadav said.
Ajay Kumar, a local resident of Peeli Kothi area, who has watched hordes of pilgrims pass by every day from his home since the Kumbh Mela began on January 13, said, "Their number has only grown every day, despite the recent stampede cases at Prayagraj and New Delhi station".
"Faith is a powerful thing, it can make you do things you wouldn't be able to do otherwise," Kumar said.
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