The Hindu festival of pain
WARNING: This film contains shocking images of skin piercing.
Once a year, Hindu devotees in West Bengal gather to pray to the god Shiva for a good harvest.
Such devotion, however, involves being hung from tall trees on sharp hooks and piercing body parts with hot iron rods.
Global warming is already having a powerful and deadly affect on the farmers of West Bengal, but many think that the poor harvests are down to a lack of devotion rather than climate change – prompting many to self-injure even harder.
Camera: Sahar Zand
Producers: Sahar Zand and Sophia Smith Galer
(Photo credit: 91Èȱ¬)
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