The sacred rivers of the Kumbh Mela

On a map the four Kumbh cities look scattered across India. On a river map, three of them turn out to be connected. The Ganga flows past Haridwar. The Yamuna joins it at Prayagraj. And the Shipra, after leaving Ujjain, runs north into the Chambal — which itself flows into the Yamuna, which then meets the Ganga at the Sangam. Water that passes Ram Ghat in Ujjain eventually reaches the same river that flows past Har Ki Pauri.

The odd one out is the Godavari. Rising in the Western Ghats above Trimbakeshwar, it flows east across the Deccan to the Bay of Bengal entirely on its own — India's second-longest river, often called the Dakshin Ganga, the Ganga of the south. It is the only Kumbh river outside the Ganga basin, which is fitting for the only Kumbh held in the south-west of the country.

The Ganga at Haridwar — young, cold and fast

At Haridwar the Ganga has only just left the mountains, a couple of hundred kilometres below its glacier source. The water is clear, cold for much of the year, and fast — which is why the ghats have chains to hold. Much of it is diverted into a canal channel through the city; see Ghats of Haridwar.

The Ganga and Yamuna at Prayagraj — wide, slow and silty

By Prayagraj both rivers are broad lowland rivers crossing the flat plain. They carry sediment, spread across wide sandbanks, and shift course with every monsoon. The two are often visibly different in colour where they meet. Bathing is mostly from boats or temporary sandbank ghats; see Triveni Sangam.

The Godavari at Nashik–Trimbakeshwar — a source and a stream

At Trimbakeshwar the Godavari is barely born; bathing happens in a built tank at its traditional source. By Nashik, 30 km on, it is still a modest river running in a stone channel, its level set largely by the Gangapur Dam upstream. The Nashik Kumbh's bathing days fall in the monsoon, when it runs fullest. See Nashik–Trimbakeshwar.

The Shipra at Ujjain — small and carefully managed

The Shipra is the smallest of the four and runs low in the dry months. Since 2015, Narmada water has been piped in to keep it flowing, and further works are planned to keep the Khan river's runoff out of the bathing stretch. It flows north past the old city. See Ghats of Ujjain.

The Saraswati — present by tradition

The Saraswati is the Kumbh's fifth river: not visible anywhere on the ground, but held in tradition to join the Ganga and Yamuna at Prayagraj, flowing unseen. That belief is what makes the Sangam a triveni, a meeting of three.