During a festival held in Chengam, Tamil Nadu, devotees took turns plucking out fried snacks from a pot of boiling oil.

Footage from February 5 shows a group of men using their bare hands to scoop vada from the boiling hot oil. Vada is a fried snack made from a range of legumes, vegetables, and flour.

Devotees dip their hands into the oil as a test of faith and in return the goddess will help solve their problems.

The footage also shows a group grinding turmeric on top of a devotee who laid down.

Others had their back pierced by hooks before pulling around a swinging beam.

Location : Thiruvannamalai district Tamilnadu, India.

Muthalamman temple festival was celebrated in a grand manner were devotees performed biazrre rituals like smashing turmeric on a stone grinder that is placed on the top of a devotees, lying on a bed of thorns, piercing on backs to extract oil that is needed for the temple rituals, removing a snack called Vadai from boiling oil etc are performed in front of hundreds of devotees..