Thaipusam: Hindu festival

1 of 12 BBC News Online reader Sundaramoorthi Nakkiran, sent in photographs and text from Thaipusam, the Hindu devotional festival in Malaysia.

2 of 12 A young devotee carries kavadi - a decorated frame - as a sort of penance

3 of 12 One of the kavadi bearers is first put into a trance before sharp skewers are thrust into their tongues and cheeks.

4 of 12 The hooks and spears are pierced on parts their bodies, and the other end is attached to chariots...

5 of 12 ...this devotee pulls it up to the base of the steps.

6 of 12 Here is a young Krishna devotee spreading the message of Bhagavad-Gita.

7 of 12 Devotees cleanse themselves before they are put into trance. Most Hindu rites begin with dipping in a nearby river.

8 of 12 A child, full of faith and having climbed the 272 steps, has a smile of victory.

9 of 12 This young couple carried the child suspended from the sugarcane stems, all the way up the steep stairways leading the temple on the top of the mountain cave, thanking the Lord for the child's birth, and strengthening their family bond.

10 of 12 Inside the maze of spear and hooks, this devotee has his faith promulgated, and left us to wonder the extent to which the body could endure.

11 of 12 Millions of devotees and tourists from all over the world come to see this event of faith and endurance.

12 of 12 Having carried the kavadi up 272 steep steps, the body shows exhaustion but the eyes show perseverance and determination.