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BIFA 2023

Faith

  • Photographer
    Shobha Gopinath

At the festival of Thaipusam, devotees fulfill vows and make sacrifices and do penance in the form of either carrying a jar of milk on their heads or in the form of body piercings with hooks, skewers, and small lances. Many of these devotees even pull chariots with hooks attached to their bodies. Others pierce their tongues and cheeks. What is truly remarkable though is their calmness as this is being done. Even more astounding is that there is not a drop of blood. There are many inexplicable things in the world, this is one of them. Faith, perhaps?