Meet the monks who eat human flesh and drink from skulls

One of the oldest cities on Earth, Varansi in Uttar Pradesh, is home to a group of monks who have some very bizarre practices, including eating human flesh. The Aghor religion of India is said to have split off from the Kapalika order in the fourteenth century AD.

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They have become known for cannibalism, smearing human ash all over themselves, and eating their own excrement. A few brave people have visited over the years to document their behaviour and try to understand their faith. They worship Shiva, who is one of the most important gods in Hinduism and is known as the God of Destruction.

Eating flesh and drinking from skulls

Filmmaker Dakota Wint went on the hunt for the Aghori in 2017. Walking along the Ganges - the holiest body of water in Hinduism - he spotted a member of the taboo group. Wint was shocked to realise that the monk was carrying human skulls. The filmmaker managed to talk to him, and he explained:

I found a body in the Ganga and I took the skulls. They mean a lot. They keep the spirits away. If someone performs rituals with these the bad spirits leave.

The monk stated that the skulls were called ‘kapula’ and used to eat food, drink tea, alcohol - ‘to do everything’.

If you find that disturbing, brace yourself: it gets worse. Another monk told Wint that he eats human flesh, something that he first practised as a 14-year-old boy. This was confirmed by a guide who would frequently see Aghori along the water edge, keeping an eye out for bodies that family members float down the river when they cannot afford a funeral. Kashi Baba explained:

Normally people can't see the Aghori and he's standing near the body. Doing meditation, meditation, meditation and he puts his hand like this and takes a piece of the body and just walks away and goes to some different place to eat it.

The reason is reportedly partly spiritual and partly practical: they perform rituals under the new moon and make offerings to Shiva as they consume it, and they believe it will prevent them from aging.

Here's a short documentary about my time with a group of Tantric Sadhus known as the Aghori. The Aghori are notorious for doing post-mortem rituals. Often found in cremation grounds, covered in human ash, carrying skulls.

Dakota of Earth on YouTubehttps://t.co/fkDLPf6CRY pic.twitter.com/ZldH2vb0kA
— ✿dakota✿ (@dakotawint) August 9, 2021

The Aghori have a deep ‘respect for people, animals and nature’

Tamara Marino, a freelance journalist, also went to visit and photograph the Aghori. She stayed with them for a month, and ended up with an amazingly positive perception of the controversial sect:

They are people that have so much love and respect for people, animals and nature … it’s just as beautiful as any other religion is.

Marino also witnessed the flesh-eating ceremonies, but came to understand that such traditions ‘stem from the belief that everything is beautiful and a creation of the gods’.

We aren’t sure we’d be brave enough to stay with them for a month, but thanks to the likes of Wint and Marino, we can get a taste without having to go all-in.