Hindu villagers in south India threw cow dung at each other for good luck during a day-long festival immediately after Diwali on Saturday, November 10.

In the small village of Gumatapura in Chamarajanagar district, Tamil Nadu, the festival of ‘Gore Habba’ was carried out as villagers smeared themselves and their neighbours with dung.

The ritual of throwing cow dung on one another during Diwali has existed in this village for centuries and draws hundreds of people from both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The preparations for the festival start with people piling up hillocks of dung at the local Beerappa temple, while the free-for-all begins once the ‘kondigekara’ or ‘chadikora’, one who carries tales, arrives and the temple priest offers pooja to the pile of dung, then the smelly battle begins. Village elders claim the ritual strengthens the bond between people.

In the small village of Gumatapura in Chamarajanagar district, villagers throw cow dung on each other and smear themselves with the dung during a day-long festival immediately after Deepavali.Called ‘Gore Habba,’ it is a festival of Kannadigas in the village. The free-for-all begins once the ‘kondigekara’ or ‘chadikora’ (one who carries tales) arrives and the temple priest offers pooja to the pile of dung.The villagers believe that the clothes and remains of a saint were dumped in a pit in the village, and took shape of a ‘Linga’, which got surrounded by cow dung. The dung is highly revered by the local deity Kare Eshwaraswamy, according to the villagers, who collect the dung and dump it behind the temple. Punishing liars by making them sit on a donkey is also a part of Gore Habba.The ritual of throwing cow dung on one another during Deepavali has existed in this village for centuries. It has at present, become an entertainment event, attracting people from both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.The preparations for the festival start with people piling up hillocks of dung at the local Beerappa temple. Similarly, at Talavadi in Satyamangala taluk of Erode district in Tamil Nadu, the youth go about religiously to collect mounds of cattle excrement which is transported to the temple in bullock carts and tractors.Village elders claim the ritual strengthens the bond between people.