My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

Holy land, holy faces.

INDIA | Thursday, 4 July 2013 | Views [572] | View Larger Image

Blessings from Hanuman! In the myth Ramayana, Hanuman was an ardent devotee of Rama. A monkey god who performed impossible feats. Much like this wandering sadhu, who contorted his face, wielded his gada or mace and put up a mighty show that left me completely awestruck.

This is Ganpati Baba, the godman with a large tumour on his face. When I met him at his abode, he was praying, surrounded by pictures of Ganpati, the god with the face of an elephant, and other scenes from Hindu mythology like Ramayan and Mahabharata. As he says, the tumour is Ganpati’s way of rewarding his faith.

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Meet Dhananjay, one among the hundreds of sadhus at Varanasi. Hunchbacked and crippled, he roams the ghats or cremation sites begging for alms from the thousands who come to the holy city to see off their near ones to another world. Hindus believe that giving alms to sadhus brings salvation to the soul.

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My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

Holy land, holy faces.

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