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Amol Rajan

Amol Rajan

BBC Factual has Amol Rajan Goes to the Ganges (working title), a one-hour documentary special for BBC One exploring the biggest gathering on Earth – the Maha Kumbh Mela Festival in Northern India. 

Journalist and presenter Amol Rajan joins up to 500 million pilgrims from all over the globe who come together for the world’s largest religious festival. The festival, which takes place every 12 years, is the largest in human history, and this year's Kumbh is a once in a lifetime event, due to a special alignment of the planets in the solar system, which last occurred 144 years ago. Pilgrims numbering more than the combined populations of the US and UK gather in an area the size of Manhattan, at the confluence of three sacred rivers, to purify themselves in the waters and gain salvation for themselves and their families. 

This is a very personal journey for Amol, who was born in India to a practising Hindu family. Amol has struggled to come to terms with the death of his father three years ago and hopes that reconnecting with his birthplace, at one of Hinduism's most important religious events, could help him process his grief. 

Along the way, Amol meets pilgrims spread out across 20 square miles of the temporary megacity, erected in just a few weeks on the banks of the rivers. Those gathered range from smartphone-wielding urbanites to rural farming families, together with mystics and holy men, prophets and warrior monks, as they wait their turn to immerse themselves in the sacred waters. 

Amol Rajan said: “This journey is both a monumental privilege, and an invitation to understand one of the most beautiful, complex, and profound religions and civilisations our world has ever known. It also comes - as viewers will discover - at a vital moment for me. Truly, this is the most auspicious adventure I have ever been on. Me and 500 million fellow pilgrims, that is…”

20 Febuary 2025                                            

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