[Leica] Kumbh Mela

[jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj)]

Douglas, Ric and Nathan,
Thanks for looking. These guys live 100% on charitable handouts for food,
so maybe it is the unbalanced diet. The other point to be noted is that
this order can be joined any time, and a lot of the initiates do join after
retiring from a lifetime of work. The Naga Baba on the right was one such -
he had been a government functionary, and he spoke very good English!
Cheers
Jayanand


On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 2:45 AM, Nathan Wajsman <photo at 
frozenlight.eu>wrote:

> Fascinating. And beautiful colours.
>
> The holy men may lead an ascetic life, but they apparently eat well :-)
>
> Cheers,
> Nathan
>
> Nathan Wajsman
> Alicante, Spain
> http://www.frozenlight.eu
> http://www.greatpix.eu
> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
> Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/
>
> YNWA
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On May 29, 2013, at 1:55 PM, Jayanand Govindaraj wrote:
>
> > I had been to the Kumbh Mela this year in February, to what is generally
> > accepted to be the largest congregation of human beings on the face of
> the
> > earth, and which occurs once every 12 years in the confluence of three
> > rivers, the Ganges, the Yamuna and a mythological underground river
> called
> > the Saraswathi - the spot is called the Sangam - in the city of Allahabad
> > in North India. It was an amazing experience, even though it was raining
> > pretty heavily throughout the trip, which meant that photographically it
> > was a bit of a washout. Only on the last day before leaving Allahabad did
> > some decent weather break through, and I got some photography done.
> >
> > I have just started processing the photographs, and I am starting with a
> > couple of shots of the branch of Sadhus called the Naga, who are
> worshipers
> > of the god Shiva. They are amongst the most revered amongst the sadhus,
> > because they have forsaken everything of the real world, and go around
> > stark naked with long locks of hair coiled on their head. They are seldom
> > seen except for these major religious occasions, when they come down from
> > the remote aeries where they normally stay. They were conceived centuries
> > ago (8th-9th Century AD) as the warriors of Hinduism, and many still
> carry
> > some sort of symbolic weapon with them even today - swords, tridents,
> > spears, etc. They are also categorized, even today, into "akharas" or
> > regiments. They rub ash on their bodies, and smoke a good amount of
> > cannabis to keep out the cold. They are amongst the most photographed of
> > all Sadhus, because they have the right to be the first to lead all the
> > pilgrims into the water as day breaks. I was not present for that
> occasion,
> > but did meet a couple of them relaxing - they were very cool about being
> > photographed, and also talked to me for a while, before blessing me and
> > sending me on my way:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/India/kumbh/Kumbh_2013-20130217-626.jpg.html
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/India/kumbh/Kumbh_2013-20130217-642.jpg.html
> >
> > Please see LARGE.
> >
> > Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome.
> >
> > Cheers
> > Jayanand
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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