A Hindu devotee carries a milk pot, known as "kavadis", for pilgrims near the Batu Cave before sunrise during the Thaipusam festival outside the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur on Jan. 20. The Hindu festival of Thaipusam, which commemorates the day when Goddess Pavarthi gave her son Lord Muruga an invincible lance with which he destroyed evil demons, is celebrated by some two million ethnic Indians in Malaysia. The centerpiece of the celebration is held at Batu Caves, where worshippers pierced with hooks and skewers in their tongues, cheeks, chests and backs shoulder heavy structures called kavadis as they walk barefoot up the temple's 272 steps in a form of penance.