It was a week of market turmoil, athletic championships and an important Hindu festival. Millions of Hindus gathered to bathe in a sacred river to cleanse themselves of sins during the Kumbh Mela, or Pitcher Festival, which is held four times every 12 years, in four rotating locations. In other scenes from around Asia last week, people left garlands of marigolds at an open-air shrine in downtown Bangkok where 20 people were killed in a bomb blast on Aug.