The exact date is determined according to Hindu astrology: the Mela is held when Jupiter is in Aquarius and the Sun enters Aries.

[5] Although there are several references to riverside bathing festivals in ancient Indian literature, the exact age of the Kumbh Mela is uncertain.

[citation needed] The fair at Haridwar appears to be the original Kumbh Mela, since it is held according to the astrological sign Kumbha (Aquarius), and because there are several references to a 12-year cycle for it.

[8] The Muslim conqueror Timur invaded Haridwar in 1398, and massacred a number of pilgrims, possibly at a Kumbh Mela.

[9] Dabestan-e Mazaheb (c. 1655) of Mohsin Fani mentions a battle at Haridwar between competing akharas in 1640, possibly at a Kumbh Mela.

It states that every year when Sun entered Aries during Vaisakhi, people from nearby rural areas would assemble at Haridwar.

[12] The Chahar Gulshan (1759) also states that the mela at Haridwar is held in the Baisakh month when Jupiter enters Aquarius.

It specifically mentions that the fair was called Kumbh Mela and that lakhs of laymen, faqirs and sanyasis attended it.

After the 1760 clash, the Vaishnavite sadhus were not allowed to bathe at Haridwar for years, until the British took control of the festival and disarmed the Saivites.

[14] According to an 1808 account by East India Company geographer Captain Francis Raper, 18,000 Bairagis were killed in the 1760 clash.

The three Sikh chiefs held a meeting, and sent a vakeel (agent) to the Gosain mahants, demanding retribution for the plundered material, plus free access to the river.

The British Captain Murray, whose battalion was stationed at one of the ghats, sent two companies of sepoys to check the advance of Sikh cavalry.

Before the Company rule, the Kumbh Mela at Haridwar was managed by the akharas (sects) of Hindu ascetics known as the sadhus.

British civil servant Robert Montgomery Martin, in his book The Indian Empire (1858), remarked that "it is difficult to convey an adequate idea of the grandeur and beauty" of the Kumbh Mela at Haridwar.

Besides horses and elephants, several other animals were sold at the fair, including "bears, leopards, tigers, deer of all kinds, monkeys, Persian greyhounds, beautiful cats, and rare birds".

Native policemen were deployed to detect cases of infectious disease, which people hid to avoid being quarantined and isolated from their relatives.

In accordance with the Contagious Diseases Acts, the policemen also hunted down unregistered prostitutes and forced them to undergo medical tests.

A number of policemen were assigned to the "conservancy" duty, which involved preventing people from defecating in the open, and herding them to latrines.

While the sanitary conditions and waste disposal facilities had improved, the containment of a potential cholera epidemic can be attributed to the fact that the ceremonies were largely over by the time the disease broke out.

Mass bathing, as well as the practice of pilgrims bringing back Ganges water (which was contaminated) for sipping by relatives, transmitted the disease widely.

For two hours, around 20,000 pilgrims had been waiting in a police cordon, to cross a bridge near Pant Dweep island to go to Har Ki Pauri.

The administration, led by District Magistrate Arun Kumar Mishra, hired 5,000 sweepers to clean the 35 km2 Mela area daily.

[41] The Mela featured luxury tent facilities offered by private businesses, restaurants, badminton courts, bonfire pits, whitewater rafting and a Tyrannosaurus rex display.

[42] Haridwar hosted the Purna Kumbh mela from Makar Sankranti (14 January 2010) to Shakh Purnima Snan (28 April 2010).

[47] Indian Space Research Organisation took satellite pictures of the crowds with the hope of improving the conduct of the festival in the future.

[55] The Union Health Ministry issued a list of Standard Operating Procedures to prevent the spread of COVID during the event, including a mandatory negative RT-PCR test report for the attendees.

[59][60] An unnamed senior Uttarakhand official said: "It is already a super-spreader because there is no space to test hundreds of thousands in a crammed city and the government neither has the facilities nor the manpower".

[58][63][55] According to a report from Madhya Pradesh, 59 out 60 of Kumbh Mela returnees from Haridwar had tested positive for COVID-19 and 22 pilgrims could not be traced.

[64] The Niranjani Akhara withdrew from the Shahi Snan scheduled on 27 April due to the rising COVID cases in Uttarakhand.

[3] After a number of sadhus tested positive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed through the telephonic call with Acharya Mahamandleshwar Swami Avdheshanand Giri, of the oldest and largest Juna Akhara, and to the attendees to keep the Kumbh Mela symbolic.