Hi, Im just in the process of completing my photography project on sadhus at the kumbh mela. This text will appear at the beginning of the book im having printed along with 30 or so photographs, some of which are shown below.
What do you think of the opening text? and images?
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We slow down our pace as we turn into the tent city of the Juna Akhara in the centre of Haridwar. In front of us hundreds of makeshift camps lay all crowded together, each with their own group of Holy men and collection of colourful characters. As we pass a camp entrance we attempt to make eye contact with one of the old ash covered Naga Babas sat beside the fire, on a raised platform, surrounded by a group of old Indian men in rags. This time he notices us, and looks up, to which we respond by joining our hands in a small bow and uttering “Namaste Babaji”. The old man smiles slightly and beckons for us to come into his camp and sit down with them. We remove our shoes and join the men sat on the floor, all facing the naked dreadlocked Holy man. After we have exchanged greetings with the group the Baba reaches for his small bag, and after rooting through it for a few seconds produces a small block of cannabis resin. “Charas?” he asks, offering us a chance to partake in the ancient sacrament, to which we nod gratefully and reply “Shukriya Babaji”. Lighting two matches he skilfully holds the block of Charas, like chopsticks, burning it for a few seconds before crumbling it up in his hand along with the contents of a cigarette. He loads this mixture into a clay chillum before throwing the matches at me and beckoning me to light him up. As I light a couple of matches and hold them to the end of the chillum he grasps tightly to his face, he roars “Bom Shiva!” before inhaling deeply and disappearing behind a cloud of smoke.
This man is a Sadhu, and this is the Kumbh Mela...
Sadhus are Hindu holy men who devote their lives to the search for enlightenment in order to attain liberation (moksha) from the cycle of death and rebirth (samsara) and the suffering involved. They are renunciates who have given up all material attachments and sexual desires, in order to live a pure and simple existence of devotion to God, through the practices of meditation, yoga, and the almost constant use of charas to attain a higher consciousness.
The Sadhus are among the most highly respected people in India. To Hindus they are seen as incarnations of God, and sometimes worshipped as Gods, having given up all worldly desire in the search of enlightenment. They live in the mountains, forests and temples across India, often in permanent states of wandering, possessing only what they carry, and living of the donations of others.
The Kumbh Mela, occurring every three years at one of four holy sites on the river Ganges, attracts all of India’s Sadhus along with millions of pilgrims from across the world for three months of celebration and devotional acts. Tent cities of Sadhus and pilgrims are built turning small towns into huge cities for the duration of the festival. The pilgrims come to wash away old karma in the holy river, and to be in the presence and gain insight from the highly revered Sadhus. During the Mela the Sadhus reside in their camps, or by the river, as the steady stream of visiting pilgrims baring gifts stop for a chillum and a conversation about the nature of existence.
more info on sadhus at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu
few more photos on my flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/tosatori/
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