A supporter of BJP dances during celebrations after learning of initial poll results outside the party headquarters in New Delhi, on May 16, 2014. (Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)
Varanasi is a city on the banks of the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh, 320 kilometres (200 mi) southeast of the state capital, Lucknow. It is holiest of the seven sacred cities (Sapta Puri) in Hinduism and Jainism. Hindus believe that death at Varanasi brings salvation. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the oldest in India.
A woman dressed in the style of a Hindu goddess keeps her face partially covered for a ritual during Maha Shivaratri celebrations on March 12, 2021 in Kaveripattinam, India. Maha Shivaratri is a major Hindu festival celebrated annually in honour of the god, Shiva. The festival is observed with chanting prayers, fasting, and meditating to overcome “darkness and ignorance” in life. (Photo by Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images)
A boy fires confetti poppers as he participates in a procession to mark Eid-e-Milad-ul-Nabi, the birthday celebration of Prophet Mohammad, in Mumbai January 4, 2015. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)
Indian authorities hold a tiger skin as they set fire to a stockpile of illegal wildlife parts at the Delhi Zoo in New Delhi, India, Sunday, November 2, 2014. A stockpile of tiger skins, elephant tusks, rhino horns and other illegal animal parts were burned Sunday in an effort to discourage wildlife smuggling in South Asia. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)
Girls wearing protective face masks wait to pray inside temple premises on the occasion of the annual harvest festival of Onam on the outskirts of Kochi, India, August 31, 2020. (Photo by Sivaram V/Reuters)
Indian women paint miniature models of houses as they make them for sale ahead of Diwali festival, in Prayagraj, India, Thursday, November 12, 2020. People buy them to decorate their homes during Diwali, the annual Hindu festival of lights which will be celebrated on Nov 14. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)
A policeman chases away a farmer during a protest against the newly passed farm bills at Singhu border near Delhi, India, November 27, 2020. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)