Would You Let Leeches Suck You?

Umar Ganie captures glimpse of Leech Therapy in Srinagar.

Every year, traditional Kashmiri health workers in Kashmir use leeches to treat people for small, itchy, painful lumps that develop on the skin called chilblains, arthritis, chronic headaches, frostbite and sinusitis, on Nowruz, which marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in the Persian calendar.

The traditional health workers use leeches to suck the blood from patients as part of a treatment known locally as Derkhe illaaj.

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com