[Leica] Temple Festival

[ricc at embarqmail.com (Ric Carter)]

Okay!

I see it clearly now!

You and Lluis, and the New Orleans crew, and others who document religious 
street festivals need to do a shared blurb book.

What a lovely, mysterious, colorful thing it would be

ric


On Mar 28, 2011, at 8:55 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj wrote:

> Once a year, the 63 deities in the Kapaleshwar Temple here in Chennai are
> taken for a spin in their palanquins and carts, carried by the devout,
> around the temple and its holy pond (about a kilometer in each direction),
> and the crowd that lands up for this most auspicious day numbers over
> 250,000. I landed up late, so missed a vantage point in one of the
> buildings, and had to jostle with the crowd to take a few shots - all of
> which are from road level:
> 
> Palanquins of the Gods:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/Kapaleshwar_20110317_115-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> Depending on the deity, a certain type of blessing is sought. Here is one
> for kids:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/Kapaleshwar_20110317_056-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> The holy ash (vibhuthi) is distributed, and then smeared on one's forehead:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/Kapaleshwar_20110317_079-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> Trance chanting and dancing:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/Kapaleshwar_20110317_180-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> Night falls:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/Kapaleshwar_20110317_278-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> Terrified kids - who could blame them - being handed over to a stranger at
> night in this crowd, losing sight of their parents, with a not very benign
> looking mother goddess looming over them:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/Kapaleshwar_20110317_358-Edit_001.jpg.html
> 
> C&C, as ever, welcome
> 
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