Caption

JOWAI, INDIA - JULY 14: People from the Pnar community perform rituals as they carry a large log to celebrate an event organised to mark the Behdienkhlam festival in Jowai, India on July 14, 2025. Behdienkhlam is a vibrant annual festival celebrated by the Pnar (Jaintia) community of Meghalaya, especially in Jowai, to drive away plague and diseases and to pray for a good harvest. Observed in July after the sowing season, it features traditional rituals, offerings to ancestral spirits, and the grand procession of beautifully decorated bamboo structures called rots, which are later immersed in a sacred muddy pool known as Ka Aitnar

Date

Jul 13, 2025

Credit line

Photo12/imageBROKER/Infinity News Collective

Reference

BRK25H60_440

Model release

No

Property release

No

License type

Rights managed

Available size

93,7Mb (7,8Mb) / 23,4in x 15,6in / 7008 x 4672 (300dpi)

Keywords

good festival celebration epidemic plague prayer faith religion seed agriculture embellished carry community tree trunk tree Bamboo plant India Asia pest construction tradition Indian religious Asian typical traditional beautiful offerings decorative agricultural pray True grass holy culture event big harvest decoration decorated sick vital procession festive celebrate ritual disease sacrifice spiritual Poales sow South Asia embellishment spirituality Believer spirit travel photography piety devout annually Bamboo constructions Meghalaya 2025 well festivity epidemic belief farming ornate trunk custom Asiatic characteristic beautifully oblation agrarian sacred large decorative item ill vivid pageant sickness Southern Asia believer yearly ornamented log lovely St. great adorned diseased living parade illness religious person caparisoned nice intact devotee gorgeous vibrant fine worshipper Faithful festivals celebrations epidemic plagues prayers religions seeds carrying communities tree trunks trees Bamboos plants constructions traditions decoratively agriculturally praying True grasses cultures events harvesting decorations processions festively celebrating rituals diseases sacrificing spiritually sowing embellishments Believers spirits annual ornated trunks customs decorative items pageants seeding believers logs devotees worshippers carries plague traditionally prays harvests decor decorates celebrates ritualistic sacrifices sows worshiper