The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a judicial probe into the deaths of at least 30 people in stampedes at India’s Kumbh Mela festival, where millions of Hindu devotees gathered for a ritual bath at the confluence of three sacred rivers.

This Hindu pilgrimage at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, touted as “the largest ever organized,” also serves as a showcase for Narendra Modi's brand of nationalism. Beneath the technological and spiritual gloss,