Battle of cow dung in an Indian village

A large crowd celebrates the cow dung battle in a village in India, during the traditional festival of Gorhabba, which takes place a few days after Diwali, India's biggest holiday.

Residents prepared for this annual ritual by collecting "ammunition" from cow owners in Gumatapura, which borders Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Each participant brought whatever precious fighting tools he could find on trailers to the temple, where a Hindu priest performed a ceremony to bless her.

Then the manure was thrown on the ground and men and boys of all ages dived into it, scooping out their ammunition for battle.

A large number of visitors flock to Gumatapura every year in the hope that their participation in this ritual will protect them from disease.

"If they contract a disease, they will recover from it," said farmer Mahesh, who was present at the festival on Saturday.

Many Hindus, who make up the majority of India's population, believe that cow droppings, a sacred animal for them that they do not eat, have medicinal properties.

Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a staunch advocate of animals and a number of Indian states have long banned their slaughter for meat.

His Government was also seeking to encourage the production of toothpaste, shampoo and mosquito repellents from livestock droppings.

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