Kumbh ends: 70 lakh participated in ‘scaled down’ mela held amid virus surge Held over three months in normal circumstances, the Kumbh Mela this time formally begun as late as April 1 due to concerns over COVID-19. By PTI| Posted by Nikita Venkatesh | Published: 30th April 2021 8:43 pm IST Seers taking a dip in River Ganges as a part of last royal bath. (PTI photo) Dehradun: Seventy lakh devotees participated in Haridwar’s Kumbh Mela, the mammoth religious congregation which ended Friday after triggering a scare that it might have acted as a COVID-19 super-spreader . Despite the huge number of people gathering around Haridwar to take a dip in the holy Ganga, the 2021 event was a comparatively modest event — reduced to just one month and scaled down midway due to the raging pandemic.