It’s not paint, not colours and definitely not for the faint-hearted. In the small village of Gummatapura on the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu border, Diwali celebrations end not with fireworks but with a friendly cow-dung free-for-all known as Gorehabba. As drums beat, crowds cheer and villagers gleefully scoop up handfuls of dung to lob at one another. The centuries-old ritual, recently captured in a viral Al Jazeera video, has once again drawn a mix of awe, amusement and disbelief online.

Devotees believe cow dung has healing properties

The festival is observed on the fourth day of Diwali. Gorehabba is rooted in the local belief that god Beereshwara Swamy was born in cow dung. Many Hindus consider cow dung a sacred and purifying substance, often used as fuel, manure and even for disinf

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