Religious ritual involving piercings.

Saturday (6/5/2017) : - A young woman undergoing body piercing ritual.Godess Mariamman Mahakali ritualistic piercings by a devotee. This is a annual celebration by a section of the Tamilian community of Worli locality in Mumbai. Every year a few Tamilian Hindu devotees of Worli have a ritual of worshiping the Goddess Mariamman by performing body piercing rituals. In this video the women and man have lances pierced through their face.All these devotees who indulge in the piecing rituals are from the lower economic strata of society and most earn a living selling vegetables in the Worli /Prabhadevi market.As a regular to the market most of them know me by sight and informed me about this particular ritual that they perform once a year to appease the Hindu Goddess Mariaamman. Having visited the "Batu Caves" in Malaysia realized that this ritual is identical to the Tamilian Thaipusam festival of body piercing rituals done mostly by Tamilian Malaysians to appease the Lord Muruga. A procession begins in the wee hours of the morning on Thaipusam day from the Sri Mahamariamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur leading up to Batu Caves as a religious undertaking to Lord Muruga lasting eight hours. Definitely a sight not for the faint hearted as it involves severe body pain and unbelievable mind control by the devotees undergoing the piecing procedures.In Mumbai i have seen this form of body piercing devotion only in Worli and that too among a minuscule population of the Tamil community of Mumbai.It lasts for a few hours beginning in the evening by worship at the makeshift "Mariamman Kalimata temple" erected next to the main Worli century bazaar road.From the temple a procession begins with body piercing and beating of drums involved which lasts late into the night. A ritual unique in Mumbai city and it happens close to my locality :- Seafarer/Blogger/Traveller Rudolph.A.Furtado.