A Hindu ascetic woman adjusts her hair after taking a dip in the Ganges river in Kolkata January 4, 2011. Hindu ascetics and pilgrims are making the annual trip to Sagar island for a holy dip, at the confluence of the Ganges river and the Bay of Bengal, during the one-day festival of “Makar Sankranti” on January 14.
(REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri)

More photographs of sadhus and wandering mystics follow.

Sadhus, or Hindu
holy men, cook their food on the banks of the Ganges river in
Kolkata January 4, 2011.

(REUTERS/Rupak De
Chowdhuri)

A Hindu ascetic
woman smiles as she adjusts her hair after taking a dip in the
Ganges river in Kolkata January 4, 2011.

(REUTERS/Rupak De
Chowdhuri)

An ascetic, or
sadhu, stands near the confluence of the Ganges River and the
Bay of Bengal at Sagar Island, 150 km (95 miles) south of
Calcutta, January 13, 2005.

(REUTERS/Jayanta
Shaw)

A Hindu ascetic
smokes from a “chillum”, or earthen pot, at Kamakhya temple
during a four-day long annual “Ambubachi festival” in Guwahati,
in India’s northeastern state of Assam, June 23, 2010.

(REUTERS/Utpal
Baruah)