Hundreds participate in the Janai Purnima festival

Janai Purnima or the annual Sacred Thread Festival marks the day when the devout Hindu males change the white cotton thread they wear across their torsos and take a ritual bath in a river or a pond. The sacred thread, when it first tied, indicates formal entry into adulthood and a promise to follow their Hindu faith. (Photo: AP)

A Nepalese Hindu priest, left, helps a devotee to wear the Janai, or sacred thread, during the Janai Purnima festival at Pashupati temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, July 28, 2017. (Photo: AP)

A Nepalese Hindu devotee performs a ritual during the Janai Purnima festival at Pashupati temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, July 28, 2017. (Photo: AP)

A Nepalese Hindu priest puts Tika, a mixture of rice and Vermilion powder used for Hindu rituals, on the forehead of a young girl during the Janai Purnima festival at Pashupati temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, July 28, 2017. (Photo: AP)

Nepalese young Hindu priests get ready to take a holy bath to mark the Janai Purnima festival at Pashupati temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, July 28, 2017. (Photo: AP)

A devout Nepalese Hindu man performs a ritual during the Janai Purnima festival at Pashupati temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, July 28, 2017.(Photo: AP)

A Nepalese Hindu priest takes a holy bath during the Janai Purnima festival at Pashupati temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, July 28, 2017.(Photo: AP)

Nepalese young Hindu priests perform rituals during the Janai Purnima festival at Pashupati temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, July 28, 2017. (Photo: AP)