Women in Kanpur chant hymns, plough fields to please rain god

Women are ploughing dry fields and chanting hymns to please the god of rain in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Temperatures in the region have been steadily increasing and locals say the heat is unbearable.

In Mardanpur village, women have adopted the traditional method of pleasing the rain god.

Archana said that according to Hindu mythology, if one prays to Lord Indra, the god of rain, he blesses the area with heavy showers.

Sandhya Singh said: "We are ploughing the field to please god. From the past so many days the farms are dry here. The crops will only grow once it rains."

Usually, until the onset of the monsoon, May and June are the hottest months in India with the temperatures often in the range of 42 to 47 degrees Celsius in many places.

Rising mercury has hit routine life in Kanpur city forcing people to stay indoors.

Every year people adopt various holy measures with a belief that the god of rain if impressed would bless the place with rainfall.

In 2011 to impress rain god women baked chapattis on coal to offer the Hindu deities in India's central Madhya Pradesh. And in 2011 locals and tribal community in India's eastern Jharkhand performed prayers and traditional rituals.