Naga sadhus, a distinct category of Shaiva ascetic historically associated with martial training and, in earlier centuries, with armed defense of pilgrimage routes and religious sites, are recognized by their practice of remaining unclothed and covering their bodies with ash as a mark of their extreme renunciation, undertaking a particularly demanding initiation process that can extend over years and includes specific tests of physical and spiritual discipline before full acceptance into a naga akhara. Naga sadhus and other akhara-affiliated ascetics gather in especially large numbers at the Kumbh Mela, a major pilgrimage and bathing festival held on a roughly twelve-year cycle rotating among four sacred river sites in India, where the ceremonial bathing procession of different akharas, each entering the sacred waters in a strict, traditionally negotiated order of precedence, forms one of the festival's most visually striking and closely organized events.
The Kumbh Mela, recognized by UNESCO as an element of humanity's intangible cultural heritage, draws tens of millions of pilgrims and represents one of the largest peaceful gatherings of people anywhere in the world, and the sadhu and akhara presence at the festival provides one of the most visible and sustained points of contact between India's wandering ascetic tradition and the wider lay public, most of whom encounter sadhus specifically in this festival context rather than in the more dispersed, individual wandering life many sadhus lead the rest of the year.