Aghori, most terrifying and scary Indian ascetics. It’s said that they exists between life and death. They usually live close to the crematory grounds and use human bodies to their religious rituals. They perform Puja sitting on the body and collect “human oil” from corpse fat. Aghori are scavengers – they use to eat human flesh – and this is why they are usually called “cannibals”.

Aghori can be terrifying, and I initially approached them with apprehension. Fortunately, they turned out to be kind in their own way. They exude a certain peacefulness, although when possessed by the wrathful goddess Kali, they become unpredictable. Some even claim they can kill a person with the power of their mantras.

Beyond photography, I always seek stories and conduct interviews. The accounts from Aghori representatives were sometimes shocking. I met and became a student of one guru who survived solely on human flesh for seven years. He had taken a vow of silence during this period, spending days and nights by funeral pyres. When bodies were burning, he would make flour pancakes, place them on the pyre, and when ready, cut pieces of meat from partially cremated bodies to create something like pita bread. Today, he’s a respected priest with his own ashram and a necklace of skulls he wears for special occasions. He showed me a spot near his temple where he buried 18 bodies to decompose so he could later excavate the cleaned skulls and bones.

Not all stories are so shocking—some are deeply personal and tragic. One ascetic told me he fled home the day before his wedding to escape an arranged marriage. After hiding in a temple for months, his parents tracked him down during a pilgrimage. They hired thugs to kidnap him, threw him into a car trunk, and kept him under house arrest for several months. He eventually convinced his parents he had “come to his senses,” only to escape again, never to see his family again.