Millions of devout Hindus led by naked ascetics with ash smeared on their bodies plunged into India’s holy River Ganges today in a ritual they believe can wash away their sins.

School authorities in a northern Indian state have banned exchanges of cards or flowers for Valentine’s Day, trying to prevent what a top administrator called an invasion of “foreign culture”.

Four ash-smeared warrior priests rode horses to the bank of the Ganges to mark one of the holiest days of the Hindu festival, the Kumbh Mela.