Indian devotees carry their luggage and wade through the flooded water in Varanasi, India, Friday, August 26, 2016. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)
A male elephant named Mahadevan is tied in a truck as he is being transported for an annual temple festival in Kochi, India, March 10, 2020. (Photo by Sivaram V/Reuters)
Children of a vendor pose with demon-masks to be hung outside homes believed to ward off negative energy during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, at a roadside stall in Hyderabad, on April 18, 2020. (Photo by Noah Seelam/AFP Photo)
A Tamil devotee prays during the Thai Pongal harvest festival at a temple in Colombo January 15, 2016.The Tamil festival of Thai Pongal is a thanksgiving ceremony in which the farmers thank the spirits of nature, the sun and the farm animals for their assistance in providing a successful harvest. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)
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)
An Indian toddler plays amid marigold flowers at a wasted flowers dumping site, besides a flower market in Mumbai, India, 28 September 2016. Marigold flowers are used in many religious ceremonies in the temples in India. Strung together they make colourful garlands and are used as an offering in temples and to decorate them. (Photo by Divyakant Solanki/EPA)
Girls ride an improvised motorbike public transport along with bicycles they received from their school under a government scheme in Malancha, South 24 Pargana district, India, Wednesday, October 20, 2021. (Photo by Bikas Das/AP Photo)