In the quiet villages of Chhattisgarh, the Ramnamis carry a faith inscribed not on parchment but on their own skin. This remarkable community, born in the late 19th century from the Bhakti movement, embraced devotion to Lord Ram as both prayer and protest against caste exclusion. Their most striking tradition is the tattooing of “Ram” across the body, a painful, lifelong vow that begins in youth and sometimes covers face, chest, and limbs — turning skin into scripture.

The Ramnamis follow a simple life of prayer, bhajans, and gatherings where the recitation of Ram’s name is both worship and identity. Once numbering in the thousands, today only a few hundred elders remain visibly marked, as younger generations shy away from tattoos, balancing devotion with modernity. Seen with curiosity, reverence, and sometimes fading memory, the Ramnamis stand as living symbols of faith, endurance, and resistance etched into flesh.