Rafai Fakirs, Hyderabad - No.1

Graphic images of the Muslim sect’s self-mutilation practices, filmed in late-1920s India.

This is the first of four films shot by E.H. Hunt on the veranda of his bungalow as part of his research into the self-mutilation practices of the Rafai Fakirs, a Muslim sect in Hyderabad, southern India. Not for the faint hearted, these scenes include eyeball gouging and cheek piercing.

Edmund Henderson Hunt (1874-1952) was Chief Medical Officer of the Nizam's State Railway, Hyderabad, southern India, from 1903-31. Hunt’s papers and photographs relating to the Rafai Fakirs can be found in the National Archives.