Tag: Sadhus
25 Posts
Painted Faces of Hindu Monks and Priests
Hindus wear markings on their forehead for many purposes. Some markings denote the sect they belong to, others tell if a woman is married or not, and some have deeper metaphysical reasons. Hindu priests and monks can often be seen wearing the most elaborate of facial markings. The markings are ma...
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Parade of sadhus at the Kumbh Mela Festival
One of the most amazing things to witness at the Kumbh Mela festival is the parade of sadhus (monks). The parade takes place on the main bathing just before the auspicious time for the dip in the holy Ganges river. Monks parade from their tented areas in thousands to the river. Here are a collect...
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Monk with really long hair
Ok, I admit I could have come up with a more creative blog post title but at least it gets straight to the point. At the Kumbha Mela festival that I attended in Haridwar in 2010 I met a monk with really long hair. He invited me to join him and his devotees around a…
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Ganga Aarti at the Kumbh Mela Festival (Part 2)
We continue with our series of photographs highlighting the Ganga Aarti ceremony that takes place at the Kumbha Mela festival in India. We’ve themed our tour to the Kumbha Mela festival as a spiritual and photography adventure as there’s be countless opportunities for photography duri...
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Ganga Aarti at the Kumbh Mela Festival (Part 1)
Part of the Kumbha Mela festival is the evening Ganga Aarti celebration down by the banks of the holy Ganges river. Aarti is a Hindu ritual wear an oil lamp or lamps are lit and then waved ceremoniously at a deity. In this case the the holy river is looked open as the deity and…
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Collection of Kumbha Mela Photos by Anna Kastner
The grand 2013 Kumbha Mela festival is only a little over 7 months away. Quite a few people have signed up for our spiritual adventure to this festival and across north India and we hope you will too. Today, I’d like to share some photos taken by a dear friend of mine, Anna Kastner. SheR...
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Sadhus at the Kumbh Mela
Here’s the final photo in our 14 day series of images of Sadhus. The biggest gathering of sadhus takes place every 3 years at the Kumbha Mela festival. It comes around again next year but time a little special. Every 12 years the full festival is celebrated and this just happens to be in 20...
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Day 13 of our Sadhu Image Series
The markings on a Hindu’s forehead quite often shares what sects he belongs to. There are four primary sects within Hinduism namely Saivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism and Smartism. The markings on this sadhu’s forehead indicate that he is a Vaishnavite. Members of this sect worship the su...
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