How Squid Games inspired Maha Kumbh 2025 ?

The Mahakumbh that happens once every twelve years is considered the largest religious conglomeration of people in the entire world. People from across the globe flock to the holy city of Prayagraj during the six-week-long festival to take a holy dip in the Triveni Sangam—a sacred confluence of the rivers Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati. Devotees believe that the sacred dip will wash away all the sins and reserve a place in heaven. However, things were not as positive as they sound. There have been instances of stampedes in the past, which have resulted in fatalities.

This year, though, things are quite different. The organizers have adopted modern technologies such as artificial intelligence and drones for efficient crowd management. Numerous drones have been deployed to provide real-time monitoring and movement tracking. These drones are enabled with complex machine learning algorithms that continuously monitor the crowd and alert the authorities in case of abnormalities.

Underwater drones that are capable of diving up to 100 meters have been deployed across the city to provide round-the-clock surveillance in the Sangam area. This modern drone tech, and monitoring will come in handy in times of medical emergency or other mishaps.

It seems Squid Game too has inspired the mela authorities. Yes, you read it right: more than 2700 AI-enabled high-definition CCTV cameras have been installed across the city. These state-of-the-art cameras can perform facial recognition, and help in the swift management of people, especially children, and the elderly getting separated from their families. The cameras are connected to advanced systems that can predict potential crowd gatherings and large-scale movement of people to alert the authorities. The authorities can now jump into action at places and prevent potential overcrowding well ahead of the actual situation. Despite the scale, officials are confident that the AI models, which are being fine-tuned daily, will handle challenges such as overlapping features in crowded areas and environmental factors like lighting and weather that could affect image quality. Devotees are also provided with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags for unique identification, and crowd management.

The Prayagraj Mela Authority and UPDESCO (Uttar Pradesh Development Systems Corporation Ltd.), have hosted an open-source LLM-based AI chatbot, “Kumbh Say’AI’yak” in association with Bhavish Agarwal’s AI startup, Krutrim, that will provide 24/7 real-time guidance and updates to devotees. It supports 11 Indian languages, namely Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Malayalam, Urdu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada, and Bengali. It is integrated with Google Maps to provide navigation assistance, and cultural lessons in voice modes, making it user-friendly for devotees with a minimal level of technological understanding.

If things turn out well, the Mahakumbh will stand as a testimony to how modern technology, and long-standing traditions go hand in hand. It can show the world that advancements in technology can aid in preserving the cultural and religious heritage for generations to come. Anytool editor will meet you with another article on the outcomes post the event. Until then, cheers !!