A gruesome and unique festival takes place in Tamilnadu, south India, where Hindu devotees pierce their bodies with hooks and suspend themselves from cranes.

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

Devotees often carry pots of milk as offerings to the deity Lord Muruga, and perform the hook piercings as marks of penance and atonement.

The 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. On the day of Panguni Uthiram, thousands of devotees throng at the temples of Lord Muruga.Devotees walk over several miles on foot as a mark of their devotion to Lord Muruga with many of them seen carrying milk pots and a set up called Kavadi on their shoulders and heads carrying some objects to be offered at the temple.During the festival,thousands of Hindu devotees pierce their bodies with numerous needles and spikes as mark of penance for their wishes to be fulfilled.The devotees show no signs of pain as they converged at the temples.The body piercing,hooking,hanging from cranes are similar to the vegetarian festival in Thailand.The festival is celebrated in Murugan Temples all over India,srilanka,singapore and malaysia.