\n<\/p>\n
The video, which was shared more than 2,200 times, was posted<\/a> on X on January 2, 2025.<\/p>\n It shows an elephant, which has been decorated to make it appear it has three heads, led along a road.<\/p>\n “Har Har Mahadev, see the amazing three-faced Gajanan in Prayagraj Maha Kumbh,” read\u00a0Hindi-language text<\/span> superimposed on the video, referring to\u00a0the giant Hindu religious festival<\/a> set to be held at the riverside in Prayagraj in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n “Har Har Mahadev” is a Hindu religious slogan praising God Shiva, while Gajanan is one of the names of elephant-headed Hindu deity Lord Ganesh.<\/p>\n Organisers were prepared to welcome up to 400 million pilgrims for the great or “Maha” Kumbh Mela, a millennia-old show of religious piety and ritual bathing that is held on the site where the Ganges and Yamuna rivers are believed to meet with the mythical Saraswati river.<\/p>\n The festival — held between January 13 and February 26 — is rooted in Hindu mythology, a battle between deities and demons for control of a pitcher containing the nectar of immortality.<\/p>\n