Beyond Orientalism
“The oldest living city in the world”.
I went early this morning for a walk in Kashi, the old part of Varanasi (Benaras) in order to take a few pictures.
Near Kashi Vishwanath temple (Lord Shiva’s mandir) those two young Brahmans were talking seriously, they saw me taking pictures and didn’t really care of it.
The attitude of the boy standing on the right reminds of Lord Krishna who is oftened depicted in this position.
I found a touch of Orientalism in the composition that I could see in my camera screen, something which reminded me French paintings of the 19°.
Those two kids belong to the Brahman cast (aslo known as Brahmin) which according Hinduism, refers to the priestly caste in the Hindu caste system.
The Sanskrit word Brāhmaṇa denotes the scholar/teacher, priest, caste, class (varṇa), or tribe, that has been traditionally enjoined to live a life of learning, teaching and non-possessiveness.
