Natural world and wildlife shortlist. Lop Buri in Thailand is home to hundreds of macaques, which local residents consider to be disciples of the Hindu god Hanuman. While some people love them, others fear or even hate them. Despite the inconvenience they often cause, the macaques are generally respected and considered sacred. (Photo by Joan de la Malla/Sony World Photography Awards)

A local resident dressed as Yamraj or Hindu god of death, wearing a novel coronavirus-themed balloon necklace, gestures as he poses during an awareness about social distancing and staying at home organised by Delhi police during a nationwide lockdown to slow the spreading of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New Delhi, India, April 28, 2020. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

Believers bathe in the icy water during a traditional Epiphany at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Ostankino near TV Tower in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, January 18, 2023. Across Russia, the devout and the daring are observing the Orthodox Christian feast day of Epiphany by immersing themselves in frigid water through holes cut through the ice of lakes and rivers. Epiphany celebrates the revelation of Jesus Christ as the incarnation of God through his baptism in the River Jordan. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

A Hindu woman gives money to an elephant outside the Lord Jagannath temple ahead of the annual Rath Yatra, or chariot procession, in Ahmedabad, India, July 16, 2015. The annual religious procession commemorates a journey by Hindu god Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra, in specially made chariots. The annual Rath Yatra is celebrated on July 18. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

An Indian boy dressed as Hindu god Shiva to attract alms from devotees chats with tourists as they sit on benches partially submerged in flood waters on the banks of the River Ganges in Allahabad, India, Thursday, July 30, 2015. The Ganges, one of India's largest rivers is flooded following monsoon rains. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

A Hindu holy man looks at a decoration on the ghats of the river Saryu as part of preparations for the groundbreaking ceremony of a temple to the Hindu god Ram in Ayodhya, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Monday, August 3, 2020. As Hindus prepare to celebrate the groundbreaking of a long-awaited temple at a disputed ground in northern India, Muslims say they have no firm plans yet to build a new mosque at an alternative site they were granted to replace the one torn down by Hindu hard-liners decades ago. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

A Sadhu, Hindu holy person, prepares himself by smearing ashes on his body during the Maha Shivaratri festival at the Pashupati Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, 11 March 2021. The Maha Shivratri festival, which is celebrated on 11 March, sees Hindu devotees, from across the country and neighboring India, gather to celebrate the birthday of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of creation and destruction, by offering special prayers and fasting. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA/EFE)

A supporter of the Houthis has a poster attached to his waist of Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, who was killed in an air strike at Baghdad airport, during a rally to denounce the U.S. killing, in Saada, Yemen January 6, 2020. The writing on the poster reads: “God is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam”. (Photo by Naif Rahma/Reuters)