This is not the first time when a large number of people have lost their lives in a stampede at a religious gathering. According to data collated by F T Illyas and others, 79% of all stampedes in India from 1954-2012 took place in religious mass gatherings (“Human stampedes during religious festivals: A comparative review of mass gathering emergencies in India”, 2013). Here is why stampedes take place, and some common factors behind them. First, what is a stampede? Wenguo Weng and others define a stampede as “an impulsive mass…