Gajan Festival In West Bengal

• Photographer
  Shaibal Nandi

Gajan or Shivagajan is a Hindu religious festival celebrated mostly in the state of West Bengal. In the Gajan festival, devotees worship Lord Shiva by injuring themselves through the piercing of needles, iron rods, hooks, and by many other means in different parts of their bodies including tongue, lips, ears, etc. They believe that through pain and injury, they could reach Lord Shiva. The devotees dance, shout, and roam around villages madly, assuming themselves as Nandi and Bhiringi (great devotees of Lord Shiva). The ritual starts in the early morning and ends in the afternoon.