In 2001, up to 70 million pilgrims are estimated to have attended the 42 days of religious pilgrimage intertwined with carnival that is the Maha Kumbh Mela, in Prayag, in the Indian state Uttar Pradesh, making it the largest gathering anywhere in world history. During the festival, young boys, attired in lavish ceremonial costumes, take on a temporary gender change during the period of the Kumbh, and are worshipped as living female Goddesses. Their feet are not allowed to touch the ground and they are carried everywhere by their fathers or guardians. The next Maha Kumbh Mela will take place in 2013.

Photograph: Jeremy Hunter