My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

Holy land, holy faces.

INDIA | Thursday, 4 July 2013 | Views [1046] | View Larger Image

In Varanasi, there are a tribe of ascetic sadhus who have renounced their families and all worldly possessions in their search of god. They are the Aghoris. Even among sadhus, they are an extreme lot, with a number of taboo rituals and practices.

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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I saw this young Brahman boy lost in his thoughts, while his classmates chanted slogans sitting on the banks of the Ganga. Many Brahman families send off their boys to gurukuls, schools like these that train priests, at a tender age. An age when they should be playing and making the most of their childhood.

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My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

Holy land, holy faces.

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