A performer takes part in a religious procession ahead of the “Agrasen Jayanti” festival, which celebrates the birth anniversary of legendary Hindu king Agrasen Maharaj, in Ajmer on October 11, 2023. (Photo by Himanshu Sharma/AFP Photo)

Members of Panchayati Akhara Bada Udasin take part in a religious procession as they head towards the Kumbh Mela festival ahead of the royal bath near the Sangam, the confluence of three of the holiest rivers in Hindu mythology – Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati – in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India, 12 January 2025. Every 12 years, Hindu pilgrims gather for ritual baths at the river's banks during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival. (Photo by Rajat Gupta/EPA)

A Xikrin woman holds her husband's shotgun while he cleans freshly hunted peccary in the river. According to tradition, Xikrin women are not allowed to leave the village while their husbands are out hunting a wife must patiently wait for his return. (Photo and caption by Taylor Weidman)

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 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)

A woman stands at the door of her shanty at a slum in Mumbai, India July 20, 2016. (Photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters)

Students perform during a “Bhangra” folk dance competition at a university in Amritsar on October 29, 2024. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo)

A man is seen trapped amid the debris of an under-construction flyover after it collapsed in Kolkata, India, March 31, 2016. Using saws, small cranes and bare hands, rescuers on Friday cleared the crumbled concrete and twisted steel from an overpass that collapsed onto a crowded Kolkata neighborhood, killing at least 23 people and injuring more than 80. With more than half the debris cleared by Friday morning, 67 people have been pulled out alive, police said. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)