Panguni Uthiram 2012: Hindu Body Piercing In New Delhi (PHOTOS)

The Panguni Uthiram festival, celebrated annually during the full moon of the Tamil month of Panguni, which takes place from the end of March through early April, means the "Full Moon of Divine Marriages."

This festival is important to Tamil Hindus, as it commemorates the marriage of several deities including Parvati, Parameshwaran, Lord Murugan and Deivanai. Some Tamils pierce their bodies with sharp objects as an act of deference toward the Gods.

While the acts of extreme body piercing and "hooking" may look similar to Thailand's Vegetarian Festival, the purpose behind each could not be more different. The Vegetarian Festival has participants piercing "their faces with skewers, knives, drill bits, umbrellas and even model helicopters as a part of the annual body purification ceremony," while the Tamil Hindu devotees pierce their bodies as a mark of respect for Lord Murgan, the patron deity of the Tamil land, according to religious beliefs.

The religious holiday is celebrated throughout Asia in countries including Sri Lanka, India and Singapore. The images in the AP photo gallery below were snapped in New Delhi, India, where a procession of Tamil Hindus took to the streets to show their devotion.

• Pierced Cheeks
• Tongue Piercing
• Offering Prayers
• Cheek Piercing
• Penance And Blessings
• Lemons Hooked To Body
• Lemons Hooked To Body
• Tongue Piercing
• Tongue Piercing
• Body Lemons

Comments

[accelerando]

03:55 PM on 06/24/2012

I think this compulsion to mutilate one's body in the services of religion (St. Rose of Lima comes to mind) is very much the same impulse that compels certain teenage girls in America to cut themselves: the need to FEEL in the face of Perfection, in the face of the Overwhelming, whether that is an idea of God, the Cosmos, or Unattainable social ideal.

[Yeshu Abraham]

10:34 PM on 05/20/2012

Mythological stories of gods marrying goddesses are believed to be true and devotees pierce their bodies with iron rods. We show our sympathy to these misguided devotees. If we ask them after one year of participation in the body-piercing festival what they have benefited, got in reward for this painful ritual of piercing their bodies, the reply in most cases is that they have not experienced any miracle. Unemployment is still there. Losses in their business, no progress in economic status, no success in the examination of their children and no mental peace but the same depression. In spite of these results, superstition and ignorance make them do this piercing ceremony year after year.

[Yoga is Hindu]

12:08 AM on 07/19/2012

Have you actually done studies? NO.
Have you gone there and lived with them to get their opinions? NO.

[madsandmonkey]

04:58 AM on 04/29/2012

Generally, I'm pretty cool with the piercing. I'll admit, I have more than a few extra adornments. However, I have to say, "OMG. OW! OW! OW!!" Kudos to these people for their dedication.

[txadams]

08:21 AM on 04/11/2012

Except for the fruit piercing I've seen better when walking downtown in Austin.

[QueenoftheSilverDollar]

12:50 AM on 04/11/2012

Humans can be quite ridiculous.

[seektruefaith]

10:30 AM on 04/10/2012

Body piercing and adornment is an ancient custom. The Western world has copied many of these customs from the ancient world in the last few decades. However, there are risks of piercing the body, for example the mouth area, risks include choking after swallowing jewelry, numbness and loss of taste in the tongue, prolonged bleeding, chipped or fractured teeth, increased salivary flow, uncontrolled drooling, gum injury, speech impediment, and difficulties in breathing, chewing, and swallowing. Piercing facial skin can damage nerves and blood vessels and result in loss of feeling as well as infections and wounds that take a long time to heal.

In the scriptures we learn that God taught the Israelites to respect their bodies and to avoid self-mutilation. (Leviticus 19:28; 21:5; Deuteronomy 14:1) And while Christians today are not under the Mosaic Law, they are still encouraged to treat their bodies with respect. (Romans 12:1) Does it not make good sense, then, to avoid unnecessary health risks?

[sandalwood]

12:21 PM on 04/10/2012

"In the scriptures we learn that God taught the Israelites to respect their bodies and to avoid self-mutilation."

And yet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcision

"Religious male circumcision is considered a commandment from God in Judaism.[5][6] In Islam, though not mentioned in the Qur'an, male circumcision is widely practiced and often considered to be sunnah.[7] It is also customary in some Christian churches in Africa.[8]
Estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest that 30 percent of males worldwide are circumcised, of whom 68 percent are Muslim.[9] The prevalence of circumcision varies mostly with religious affiliation, and sometimes culture. The timing of circumcision similarly varies, though it is commonly practised between birth and the early twenties."

[GCL 1]

12:41 PM on 04/10/2012

Touche, sandalwood. You're good! :-)

[seektruefaith]

09:09 PM on 04/10/2012

@ Sandlewood. Circumcision was a requirement by God for the Jews for purpose of maintaining good health & cleanliness back in ancient times. It was practiced in Egypt as well, as is illustrated in wall paintings & observed in mummies. Also practiced by the Moabites, Ammonites, Samaritans & the Edomites. (Jer. 9:25, 26) Circumcision was made a mandatory requirement of the Mosaic Law. “On the eighth day (after the birth of a male) the flesh of his foreskin will be circumcised.” (Lev. 12:2, 3)

But why did that law specify to be done on the eighth day? God did not explain, however, in recent years man has learned some of the physical reasons why the eighth day was a good time to circumcise. Normal amounts of the blood-clotting element called vitamin K are not found in the blood until the fifth to the seventh day after birth. Another clotting factor known as prothrombin is present in amounts only about 30 percent of normal on the third day but on the eighth day is higher than at any other time in the child’s life - as much as 110 percent of normal. So, following Jehovah God’s instructions would help avoid danger of hemorrhage.

Scriptures also mention of 'circumcision of the heart’ meaning getting rid of anything in one’s thinking that is displeasing and unclean in God’s eyes & that makes the heart unresponsive. Similarly, ears that are not sensitive or responsive are spoken of as “uncircumcised.” (Jer. 6:10; Acts 7:51).

[NeverBendover]

01:50 AM on 04/10/2012

Scary!

[kodimirpal]

10:05 PM on 04/09/2012

@GCL and @ Spicedust

Modi apologists are like Holocaust deniers, who say Hitler didn't kill the Jews but they sure deserved to die.

For the Modi apologists, their hero didn't say the post-Godhra massacres were a 'reaction' but they believe the Muslims who got killed in 'reaction' had it coming anyway.

No wonder world media call Modi as the Hitler and Nero of India. Let God forbid him becoming the PM of India and moving his death labs from Gujarat to Delhi.

No Holocaust took place in Germany would justify what Hitler did and that is the argument brother GCL is putting forward in the case of Gujarat.

If there is any logic in the argument, communal slaughter and brutalities should have come to an end in India after the demolition of Babri Masjid,.

What happened as a consequence was brutal Bombay riots, then the terrorist attack by Ibrahim Dawud and his gang, Godhra train killings, and then Hindu terrorists carrying out Samjawata train bombs killing over 60 Pakistani passengers, Malegon, Nanda, Hyderabad Macca Masjid blast, Ajmeer Dargha blast( all Hindu based), Pakistan based 26/11 Bombay terrorist attack

And so on the sad story continues as the feelings of retaliation and revenge continue as Modi says every action has its reaction.

It is striking to see the manner in which the arguments of Golwalkar and Savarkar about Muslims and Christians as ‘foreigners’ and ‘enemies’ resonate in the pronouncements and activities of Bajrang Dal like organizations.

[GCL 1]

12:38 AM on 04/10/2012

But, this article is not about Godhra, Gujarat, or Modi at all! LOL! Another act of desperation from the Marxists "seculars." LOL!

You call me "brother GCL".

Are you sure you don't mean "Comrade GCL?

Read 'em and weep! LOL!

http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2012/03/16/why-narendra-modi-is-indias-most-loved-and-loathed-politician/

LOL! Do you really think we can't see through Communists like you who desperately and misguidedly seek to impart an Anti-Semitic spin on everything, including Modi? LOL!

Narendra Modi has been the ONLY Indian political leader who has unhesitatingly and unreservedly expressed his support of Israel and the Jewish people.

Against pressure from certain Islamic/Opposition/Marxist lobbies, he has been one of the few Indian politicians who has PERSONALLY VISITED ISRAEL.

Modi was the one who welcomes 40,000 Israeli soldiers in Kashmir on vacation.

When the Jewish people wanted to perform a cultural festival in Gujarat, several opposed it, including those in opposition. MODI ALLOWED and WELCOMED IT.

And you have the shameless gall to call Narendra Modi guilty of a "Holocaust", demeaning the value of that term and betraying your petty ignorance on a serious and shameful chapter in history.

http://www.narendramodi.in/israel-consul-general-meets-gujarat-cm/

http://www.narendramodi.in/israel-to-set-up-3-agricultural-excellence-centres-in-state/

http://www.narendramodi.in/international/

You will NEVER beat Narendrabhai and his supporters. NEVER. We will ALWAYS win, since right is on our side.

[kodimirpal]

03:54 AM on 04/10/2012

http://www.diwala.com/tag/narendra-modi-killer/

http://awareness-2009.blogspot.in/2011/04/more-on-narendra-killer-modi-and-2002.html

http://penyields.wordpress.com/tag/narendra-modi/

http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Religion-communalism/2005/modi-usa.htm

History bears witness to the fact that many of the tyrants turn out to be the most chicken hearted .

Politicians like Narendra Modi never muster courage to face the court of law.

Hitler committed suicide, Mussolini was caught hiding under the discarded uniforms of soldiers and Idi Ameen ran begging and got asylum in Saudi Arabia.

I don't want to deprecate these once towering negative figures of history by bringing any similarity of them with Modi and Shah.

They are non-descript flies on the democratic wheel of India. Their problem is the big morsel of barbarism fell in their mouths when they were gaping open mouth at the political bed of Gujarat.

They swallowed that and became the mascots of Hindu Extremism in India. They are some upon whom the tyranny is vested.

Hindu fanatics have catapulted even lab assistant (Modi was a lab assistant) of its hatred and vengeance lab as the demonstrator.

He willingly donned that role as it brought him name, fame and power. He want to be the next prime Minister of India, Let God save India)

Now wheel of justice seems to have come to full circle and he is looking for escape routs.

[GCL 1]

07:17 AM on 04/10/2012

More selective quotes from the anti-Modi lobby running out of ammunition!

Some sections of the media needed someone to blame for what happened in Gujarat.

So they, including newspapers like Hindustan Times - a mouthpiece for the ruling Congress Party and its policy of Muslim and other appeasements - have unsuccessfully attempted to demonize and throw mud against Narendra Modi the past ten years.

The people however, have their own ideas based on FACTS, and refuse to be held hostage to such terrorist journalism and biased blogging.

No one is interested except this very small buy VOCAL anti-Modi lobby (a motley marriage of convenience between the Marxists, the Muslims, and the so-called Secularists) who have hijacked this agenda and have vested interests.

This recording on repeat has been going on the past ten years, and no one cares about you and your banshees any more, certainly not the Gujaratis (including the Muslims in Gujarat who want to move on) nor the hundreds of millions of Modi supporters across India and overseas.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sit-gives-clean-chit-to-narendra-modi-in-guj-riots-case_1674022

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/gulbarg-society-massacre-narendra-modi-zakia-jafri-sit-report/1/183799.html

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/zakia-jafri-case-court-says-sit-report-finds-no-proof-against-narendra-modi-195872

http://zeenews.india.com/news/gujarat/gulberg-case-sit-gives-clean-chit-to-modi_769289.html

[sandalwood]

10:27 AM on 04/10/2012

Below in another comment, you've blatantly lied about Brahmins and specifically Shankara killing Buddhists back in the 9th century. Now you're shamelessly bringing in the word 'holocaust'. Your animus is so great against Hindus that you've no problem making stuff up to smear them.

As I've said to you many times, communal tensions arrived in India with the Muslim invasions, and if the word 'holocaust' is to be used that is where it belongs...

From: http://koenraadelst.voiceofdharma.org/articles/irin/genocide.html

"For its sheer magnitude in scope and death toll, coupled with its occasional (though not continuous) intention to exterminate entire Hindu communities, the Islamic campaign against Hinduism, which was never fully called off since the first naval invasion in 636 CE, can without exaggeration be termed genocide. To quote Will Durant's famous line: "The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious good, whose delicate complex of order and freedom, culture and peace, can at any moment be overthrown by barbarians invading from without or multiplying within." (Story of Civilization, vol.1, Our Oriental Heritage, New York 1972, p.459)"

[Jay Patel]

02:30 PM on 04/10/2012

Sandalwood,
Are you actually serious? You mean there were no tensions or wars in India until the Muslims came? The statement is literally intellectually pathetic!! You want to go around accusing other religions, then have the decency and courage to be honest with your facts first.
I grew up in India, know my history very well, so while you can get away with your nonsense with other I will no longer let you get away with it anymore. Your comments on Islam and your obvious lack of history of India pre-Islam seems to be non-existent.
I will be happy to give you nice history lessons about pre Islam India from now on!!
Lets start with the fact that Maha Guru Sri. Parshuram killed virtually ever Kshatriya king in India in his life time bc so the arrogance, injustice, and constant wars and conquests these kings were inflicting on neighboring kingdoms for feudal reasons, or for sheer political expansionist conquests.
Also, Im still waiting to hear why you defend the sheer inhumanity of the Vedas which divides human beings into superior and inferior classes of human beings?

[kodimirpal]

09:57 PM on 04/10/2012

You have to read NOT just Durant who is a shameless imperialist historian and who was more interested in creating rancor and hatred between Muslims and Hindus. After all colonialism is a lucrative career for Whitemen.

Read the history writings of Babu Nagendranath Banerjee who is a HIndu Indian historian to get more balanced views.

Your references are all from pro-fanaticl web sites and I can give hundreds of sites giving an opposite view of what you write.

Of all the Muslim rulers who ruled vast territories of India from 712 to 1857 CE, probably no one has received as much condemnation from Western and Hindu writers as Aurangzeb.

Fortunately, in recent years quite a few Hindu historians have come out in the open disputing those allegations.

For example, historian Babu Nagendranath Banerjee rejected the accusation of forced conversion of Hindus by Muslim rulers by stating that if that was their intention then in India today there would not be nearly four times as many Hindus compared to Muslims, despite the fact that Muslims had ruled for nearly a thousand years.

Banerjee challenged the Hindu hypothesis that Aurangzeb was anti-Hindu by reasoning that if the latter were truly guilty of such bigotry, how could he appoint a Hindu as his military commander-in-chief?

[johnnygoodwud]

07:00 PM on 04/09/2012

gives new meaning to the term lemonade

[Davinci Mode]

07:31 AM on 04/09/2012

just one word "Idiots"

[GCL 1]

01:34 AM on 04/09/2012

All Hail Dravidistan! Onwards Dravidian soldiers!

Chalo Delhi!

See what wonderful Dravidian spear and lemon culture - even "Rational" culture - the Dravidians can evince, once the wretched Tamil Brahmin is ousted!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidistan

[DoesItMatter]

01:10 PM on 04/09/2012

Really in very poor taste.

[GCL 1]

12:48 AM on 04/10/2012

You are welcome to join the Dravidian Army and create your own "Dravidistan" without any Hindus, Brahmins, or "Aryan" forward castes!" LOL!

Here, there's more, since you lack facts and have no grasp over truth:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-respect_movement#Anti-Brahmanism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Brahminism

I will mercilessly call you guys out without fear or favor.

Cho Ramaswamy is a lightweight compared to me. :-)

[GCL 1]

12:14 PM on 04/08/2012

Tamil Dravidian circus animals walking under Delhi's 110 degree sun in April with spears through their tongues and 100 lemons impaled on their back, all covered in ashes with Tamil Dravidian supporters screaming like madmen in the open street! LOL!

Barnum and Dravidian Circus - no clowns needed! LOL!

They should not go to sight-see the Taj Mahal, since they may be locked up in Agra's Lunatic Asylum! LOL! :-)

[artboxone]

01:17 PM on 04/08/2012

It's not necessary to denigrate your cultural brothers. You're furthering the disintegration of Bharat by those who seek to pick off and destroy its territorial integrity and its incredibly rich and varied cultural heritage. The Islamists would love to see a further breakup of India. Why do you think China is supporting both Pakistan and Maoist separationist movements within India? The artificially-created Dravidian divide serves both of these hidden masters, as well as the evangelical Christianist move to destroy Hinduism.

See "Breaking India: Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines," by Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindam Neelakandam.

www.breakingindia.com

[GCL 1]

01:39 PM on 04/08/2012

The Dravidians are NOT my "cultural brothers" - not one bit - and the "artificial divide" you refer to is VERY MUCH REAL on ethnic grounds, and was in fact first propagated by the Dravidian Movement itself through its Dravidian leaders like Periyar who claimed we are "Aryan foreigners."

We Tamil Brahmins merely agree with him now, that is all. There is no question of compromise. Quit trying.

[Doug Sandlin]

08:19 PM on 04/08/2012

Interesting ..... you and I don't see eye-to-eye on certain topics ... but I just recently read that book, and found it fascinating.

The level of unethical tactics by some evangelicals in India are downright staggering.

All their tactics are rather obvious power-plays intended to advance their agenda, and nothing more.

You know I point out when I feel people are making stuff up (i.e. engaging in blatant fabrication) about vast groups of humans, for the sole purpose of defaming that group, in order to advance an agenda of some sort.

I've seen some glaring examples of this in various ways in recent times --- and the examples of certain evangelical Christian movements in India are easily the equivalent to anything else I've seen (i.e. from anti-Islam pundits, from Birthers, etc.).

[DoesItMatter]

01:11 PM on 04/09/2012

You reject fellow Indians, but accept the Mughals (Indo-Turkic-Mongols) via Taj Mahal? Wow. I guess we find fools everywhere in this world.

[GCL 1]

12:42 AM on 04/10/2012

Who is accepting anything?

When desperate, and found wanting against the facts, you will throw such "Islamic", "Christian" or "Chinese" red herrings, instead of having the moral integrity to confront aberrant and abhorrent practices that masquerade as "Hindu". :-)

Learn to call a spade a spade - grow a backbone. :-)

[hafezrostamy]

10:46 AM on 04/08/2012

Wow!it's religion again! attracting crazy people,and making the sane ones,insane.

[GCL 1]

08:22 AM on 04/08/2012

It is amusing that Tamil Brahmins and other forward communities who protest against such barbaric practices as non-Hindu and not sanctioned in the Sastras are called "racists"! :-)

When the Tamil Dravidians cut off the holy thread of our forefathers and their topknots who wanted to quietly practice our Hindu religion in private, it is not racist.

When Tamil Dravidians abuse Tamil Brahmins as being "uncultured, uncivilized, and unworthy" and discriminate against us - a numerical minority in the state - that is not racist.

When they condemn the Vedas and Sastras and say "Kill the Brahmin before you kill the snake", that is not racist! :-)

Yet, despite it all, when we global Tamil Brahmins have grown prosperous and educated, and have become successful and are thriving in other parts of Vedic and truly Hindu India (outside Tamil Nadu), and wish to protect our sacred Hindu religion against these unacceptable practices that intrude upon it without sanction, only THEN is racism evidenced!

How amusing! :-)

[Breathwatcher]

05:52 PM on 04/08/2012

"When they condemn the Vedas and Sastras and say "Kill the Brahmin before you kill the snake", that is not racist!"

1. Brahmin is a caste not a race.

2. The Vedas and Sastras are chock full of cruelties, obscenities and absurdities; and many indian holy men, including Buddha and the Sikh Gurus, have condemned them and the brahmins who perpetuate them.

3. It was the dravidian Jain influence that tempered some of the worst practices of the brahmins, such as offering humans along with animals in the Vedic Yajnas, as you yourself acknowledged in this very thread.

4. What the brahmins did in South India is something unforgivable. They wiped out the superior religions of Jainism and Buddhism. They created a lunatic asylum of casteism. They exploited the non-brahmin women sexually. Etc

5. It is not just the Tamils, it is the majority of all indians who consider the brahmins as a dishonest and deceitful caste, as a recent poll showed.

[sandalwood]

07:53 PM on 04/08/2012

Why is it that you never provide references for your assertions? Does any scholarship support your inane statements? Remember also to back up your usual assertion that Yoga is not a Hindu practise and that it was imported on horseback from Europe via the Aryan invaders into India. Last time we had a chat about this, you said that Indus valley sites had no Vedic fire alters, which proved that the Indus valley sites were not connected to Vedic Hinduism, and then I gave you a reference that indeed such sites had been found, and you came back with... nothing. And yet you still make these claims.... shameless.

[GCL 1]

01:13 AM on 04/09/2012

>"5. It is not just the Tamils, it is the majority of all indians who consider the brahmins as a dishonest and deceitful caste, as a recent poll showed."

Speak for the Tamil Dravidians if you wish. The rest of the country has no problems with us, and neither we with them. We get along fine.

The Tamil non-BrahminDravidians are free to rail and rant as they please and walk around with spears in their tongues - but don't call yourselves Hindu, because you aren't. :-)

[GCL 1]

04:25 AM on 04/08/2012

If Tamil Dravidians think they are impressing the world with such ridiculous and barbaric displays of false piety, they have only to read the comments. Formerly only Tamil Brahmins used to laugh at them - now the whole world laughs at them. :-)