RIDONK Shiva festival

Shiva, I thought you were a woman. I'm sorry. I was wrong. It turns out that you're the Hindu god of destruction, capable of annihilating all negative forces, including ignorance, suffering, and evil. But you have to admit that you kind of look like a gentle woman. Come on.

I attended a Shiva festival in Kerala. Wowzers. Fire, continually lit by applications of ghee, whipped through the air on gothic candleabra in front of seven bull elephants. Men stood on the elephants with the rage of Shiva smeared on their faces, the stony power of Earth’s largest land creature beneath them. From my vantage point in the crowd, it was hard not to feel the strength of Shiva. And he ain't no gentle woman.
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