The pilgrims come and go as strangers. They march like a sea of people, walking toward the spot where they take holy baths, drawn by the hope that the bathing would bring them salvation. But when they leave — believing their sins have been cleansed by the redemptive bath — they leave with one thing in common: their

Moments before a deadly stampede at the world's biggest religious gathering in India, Hindu devotees queuing to take a spiritual bath in a river said they pleaded with police to open barricaded routes to thin out a surging crowd.