On the occasion of Kumbh Mela, dozens of millions of Hinduists gather in one of the four locations in India where the pilgrimage is held every third year to bathe in a sacred river.

A quick Google Image search for images of Kumbh Mela shows how photographers usually focus – and understandably so – on the impressive crowds of believers; but Tomer Ifrah, who travelled to Allahabad for this year’s Kumbh Mela, stayed back from the thick of it to see what was happening on the side. These images show what he found.