Scores of naked Hindu ascetics smeared in holy ash charged into the water of holy rivers in northern India on Tuesday, dreadlocks flying, during the first 'royal bath' of the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival.

Naked Hindu ascetics and pilgrims are taking holy dips in sacred rivers in the first major bathing day of the Maha Kumbh festival, which is the largest religious congregation on Earth

The 'royal bath' is a key part of the event, held every 12 years in the city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, significant because Hindus believe it confers salvation from the cycle of birth and death, in addition to absolution of sins.

India’s prime minister marked the opening of a tunnel in the northeast of disputed Kashmir that will grant all-year accessibility to a town that is isolated by heavy snow each winter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit the Sonmarg tunnel at around 11.45 am on Monday and inaugurate it.

The security forces on Sunday intensified sanitization efforts and area domination exercise in Kashmir, a day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the valley for the inauguration of the strategically important Z-Morh tunnel in Ganderbal district,