At least 46 people drowned in the eastern Indian state of Bihar as millions of Hindu devotees were celebrating a three-day festival for the well-being of children, officials said on Thursday.

       Thirty-seven of those who died were children and seven were women, according to a statement released by the government of Bihar State.

       As part of the annual festival Jivitputrika Vrat, celebrated mostly in northern India and some parts of Nepal, women fast for 24 hours and offer special prayers for the long life and good health of their children. During the hours when they are fasting, mothers travel to rivers and ponds in their neighborhood to bathe, sometimes accompanied by their children.

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