Inserting iron rod on the tongue of a devotee as a part of the ritual of ‘Shiva Gajan' festival at Batanal is a part of Shiva Gajan festival is observed specially by the schedule cast community like Bauri, Bagdi, Hari, Dom etc. The personal who participated in the festival become Shiva devotees called Sannyashi or Bhakta & respected by all. Hundreds of faithful devotees offer sacrifice & performed acts of devotion during the festival in the hopes of winning the favour of Hindu god Shiva & ensuring the fulfilment of their wishes & also to mark the end of the Bengali calendar year

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Inserting iron rod on the tongue of a devotee as a part of the ritual of ‘Shiva Gajan’ festival at Batanal is a part of Shiva Gajan festival is observed specially by the schedule cast community like Bauri, Bagdi, Hari, Dom etc. The personal who participated in the festival become Shiva devotees called Sannyashi or Bhakta & respected by all. Hundreds of faithful devotees offer sacrifice & performed acts of devotion during the festival in the hopes of winning the favour of Hindu god Shiva & ensuring the fulfilment of their wishes & also to mark the end of the Bengali calendar year. The central theme of this Shiva Gajan festival is to achieve satisfaction through pain, devotion & sacrifice. (Photo by Subhashis Basu / Pacific Press)

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Keywords: batanal, bengal, celebration, charak, devotee, devotion, district, festival, gajan, hinduism, hooghly, india, pain, procession, religious, sacrifice, shiva, tongues, trident, west