Within Your Own Heart

© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.

“For the sake of it, you journey to sacred shrines and holy rivers; but this priceless jewel is within your own heart.”
(Sri Guru Granth Sahib – or Adi Granth, the religious text of Sikhism)

This is the heart of Lolark Kund, one of the oldest sacred sites of Varanasi (Benaras).
This rectangular tank of 15m height below the ground level is a sacred pond for many Hindu devotees who come here during Lolark Shasthi to worship the Sun God.
The word Lolark means “trembling Sun” and there is an image of Surya, the Sun God, in the water of the tank.
This tank is attached to the most important of 12 temples of Aditya (Sun God) in the city.
The entrance to the kund can be reached from either of the three flight of steps which descend down towards it.
Aditya is believed to prevent and cure leprosy or sterile women and to favor blessings on couples particularly those wanting to bring forth male progeny for various reasons including carrying on family name, economic bonanza,…
This is the reason why many devotees and childless couples come to have a daily dip in the waters of this sacred pond.

This picture was shot during the night of Dev Diwali while two priest started to display lotus flowers and marigold garlands on the holy water of the Kund (tank).

Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography