Hundreds of Hindu devotees subjected themselves to painful rituals such as piercing themselves with hooks, skewers and hanging from cranes in a mark of atonement during a Hindu festival in southern India on March 28.

The Panguni Uthiram festival is celebrated annually during the full moon of the Tamil month of Panguni, which takes place in the month of March. It means the “Full Moon of Divine Marriages."

This festival is important to Hindus, as it commemorates the marriage of several deities including Parvati, Parameshwaran, Lord Murugan and Deivanai.

During the festival, hundreds of Hindu devotees pierce their bodies with numerous needles and spikes as marks of penance for their wishes to be fulfilled.

During the day devotees swing from heavy vehicles, hang from cranes and pull buses and containers from their hooked bodies. The devotees show no signs of pain as they converged at the temples.

Hundreds of Hindu devotees subjected themselves to painful rituals such as piercing themselves with hooks, skewers and hanging from cranes in a mark of atonement during a Hindu festival in southern India.

Panguni Uthiram festival celebrated annually during the full moon of the Tamil month of Panguni, which takes place in the month of March means the “Full Moon of Divine Marriages. This festival is important to Hindus, as it commemorates the marriage of several deities including Parvati, Parameshwaran, Lord Murugan, and Deivanai.

During the festival, hundreds of Hindu devotees pierce their bodies with numerous needles and spikes as marks of penance for their wishes to be fulfilled. During the day Devotees swing from heavy vehicles, hang from cranes and pull buses and containers from their hooked bodies. The devotees show no signs of pain as they converged at the temples.