10 September 2009

People of Varanasi (19)

Nam, can you give some explanations of the (white? grey?) make-up ?

9 comments:

Sake said...

People of Varanasi series is great!!!

Babzy.B said...

Vraiment fort comme image , est ce de la cendre sur le corps ?

nam said...

Hi

I'll tell you what i know.. but don't have very deep knowledge about this :)

Hindus have 3 main gods..
1. Brahma - the creator
2. Vishnu - the preserver
3. Shiv - the destroyer (no..not satan's equivalent but representing regeneration..the cycle)

Now these sadhus are Shiva devotees ,
and they smear their body with ash (bhasma) from a holy fire , the fire representing destruction and regeneration as well.

Sadhus who have three horizontal lines on their forehead and bodies are also Shiv devotees...and sadhus with a v shaped tilak on their head are Vishnu devotees
(also explaining image 17)

Hope I could answer your question :)

jeff said...

Et le petit vere dans la main droite... quelle signification peut-il avoir ? Non Arnaud, ma question est très sérieuse !... Un p'tit dernier pour la route ?...;-)

Arnaud said...

@Sake : Thanks, and it is still to be continued ...
@Babzy : Yep yep, c'est de la cendre
@Nam : GREAT GREAT Thanks on the behalf of all those ignorant western people !
@Jeff : Lorsqu'un tel sadhu a un verre de tchai a la main droite... parce qu'a la main gauche on pourrait éventuellement penser que cela à une autre signification...mais lorsqu'il le tient avec la main droite, c'est qu'il avait soif ! ;-P

Sake said...

Yes, please don't stop this series!!!
Maybe is a good idea to make a separate blog for it. :)

Maneesh said...

Nice pics. I will be visiting Varanasi on 30th. It will be interesting.

-Maneesh.
AdmirableIndia.com

Anonymous said...

It might be a sunscreen or a guard against filariasis-spreading sandflies............is that Espresso he's drinking?

Arnaud said...

@Anonymous : He's drinking tchai (milk tea boiled with spices)

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