a forest lost

INDIA | Monday, 8 July 2013 | Views [893] | View Smaller Image

Devotion. For more than half an hour I stood waist deep with my tripod and watched rapt in awe at the depth of her faith. Others come and went, merely splashing water, clapping hands and mumbling words several times as if following some cosmic recipe. meanwhile, as the Ganges freezing waters swirled past her gentle body; this young woman stood, still as a tree. Emotions poured through and radiated from her compassionate form, and she truly purified herself

Contemplation.
A young man looks on as pilgrims in their thousands partake in the 5am ritual cleansing.
Over a 55 day period, more than 120 million people traveled to the confluence of India's of three holiest rivers; Mother Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati.
I was fortunate to be in India at the time. The Maha Kumbh Mela, thousands of years old, and holiest of all Hindu Festivals occurs only every twelve years

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Contrast.
While these boys take delight in the spectacle all around, young men in the background focus inwards, smoking a chillum of Shiva's holy herb before entering a haze-like trance

The whole Sangam flood plain which this festival resides on, is accessible only for a few months of the year. The normal river flow is 15 meters higher, and thus all infrastructure, like the sand, power poles and even the straw pyramid in the background, are all fleeting appearances on this cyclic landscape

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a forest lost

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