The Living Gods – Kulasai Dusshera investigates the intersection of ritual, devotion, and everyday life in a small coastal town in Tamil Nadu.

For ten days each year, ordinary villagers transform into living goddesses, surrendering their bodies to paint, piercings, trance, and dance. I documented this convergence of myth and humanity — the charged atmosphere of temple courtyards, the endurance of families sleeping on the sand, and the release of joy as devotees leapt into the ocean at dawn.

The rituals of Kulasai have been widely observed, yet the mainstream narrative often reduces them to spectacle. This series underlines that the power of Kulasai lies not only in its costumes and ceremonies, but in the unseen currents between people, goddess, and place. By weaving these threads into a visual narrative, the project engages audiences in a broader conversation about transformation, resilience, and the porous boundary between the divine and the everyday.

In a world accelerating with rapid technology and modern change, Kulasai felt like stepping years back in time. Getting off a flight and within two hours being transported into a place where myth lived in bodies and devotion filled the streets was disorienting, almost unbelievable. It took me a day to settle in and accept what I was witnessing — a community where ritual was not performance but lived reality, where the divine was carried in ordinary hands.