A Hindu pilgrim feeds biscuits to an ox to seek blessing before heading for an annual trip to Sagar Island for the one-day festival of “Makar Sankranti”, in Kolkata, India January 10, 2017. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

Cadets prepare to take part in a full dress rehearsal for the upcoming Republic Day parade, in Chennai on January 24, 2024. (Photo by R. Satish Babu/AFP Photo)

A woman and her son hold firecrackers during Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in Mumbai, India, November 4, 2021. (Photo by Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters)

Goats covered with cloth are tied next to a hut on a cold winter morning in New Delhi on December 26, 2023. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

Workers clean empty cooking oil containers at a roadside recycling workshop in Kolkata, India, July 13, 2016. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

A naked Hindu holy man arrives to bath in the Godavari River during Kumbh Mela, or Pitcher Festival, at Trimbakeshwar in Nasik, India, Saturday, August 29, 2015. Hindus believe taking a dip in the waters of a holy river during the festival, will cleanse them of their sins. According to Hindu mythology, the Kumbh Mela celebrates the victory of gods over demons in a furious battle over a nectar that would give them immortality. (Photo by Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo)

A devotee immerses an idol of elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha in an artificial pond during Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India on September 20, 2023. (Photo by Aditya/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Volunteers throw a mixture of water, neem herb and turmeric as an alleged natural disinfectant on a street in a residential area during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Chennai on April 7, 2020. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)