The Power Of Celebration

“People of our time are losing the power of celebration.
Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained.
Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation.
To be entertained is a passive state–it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle….
Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one’s actions.”
(From “The Wisdom of Heschel” by Abraham Joshua Heschel)

This was shot from the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) during the celebrations of Dev Diwali on the occasion of Kartik Poornima.
The festival of Lights is a mark of welcome to the Gods as it is believed that they descend on earth on that special day.
In the evening under the full moon reflecting in the holy waters each ghat is performing Ganga Aarti with vedic hymns chanted by priests in order to please and welcome the Gods.

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A Second’s Encounter With Eternity

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.
And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”
(From “Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho)

This was shot from a boat on the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) during the celebrations of Dev Diwali on the occasion of Kartik Poornima.
The festival of Lights is a mark of welcome to the Gods as it is believed that they descend on earth on that special day.
In the evening under the full moon reflecting in the holy waters each ghat is performing Ganga Aarti with vedic hymns chanted by priests in order to please and welcome the Gods.

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© 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.

Scattering Cheerful Beams

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“O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart.
Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.”
(Saint Augustine – Ancient Roman Christian Theologian and Bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430. One of the Latin Fathers of the Church. 354-430)

This picture was shot before sunset inside the Small Sas Bahu temple in Gwalior located in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.It was initially dedicated to Lord Vishnu by the King Mahipala and was built in red sandstone during the 10th century.
Lord Vishnu is also known as Sahastrabahu, the one with many hands however gradually the name changed into Sas Bahu Temple, perhaps by mispronunciation, or misinterpretation.
Lord Vishnu is supposed to be the preserver of this Universe and keeps vigilance over this earth and if there is any disobedience among men, he punishes them.
But he is also considered to be the most kind hearted among the Hindu Avatars of God, who come to help his followers under any circumstances.
The construction of this temple was completed in the year 1092 AD by the king Mahipala who shed for the success of his Kingdom and the overall prosperity.

There are two temples, which are conjointly known as the Sas Bahu Temple.
One of the temples is bigger than the other, and perhaps for that reason, one is considered as the Mother-in Law whiles the other as the Daughter-in-Law.

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Between Zero and Infinity

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“God is the tangential point between zero and infinity”
(Alfred Jarry – French writer, 1873-1907)

This is a view of the back of Man Singh Palace in Gwalior, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Gwalior Fort was built in the 8th century and stands on an isolated rock overlooking the city.
It is said that the Mughal Emperor Babur (1483–1531) described it as, “The pearl in the necklace of the forts of Hind”.

Gwalior Fort also occupies a unique place in the human civilization as the place which has the first recorded use of zero ever.
Also referred as ‘Shunya’ in sanskrit, this site is of mathematical interest because of what is written on a tablet recording the establishment of a small 9th century Hindu temple on the eastern side of the plateau (marked by the ‘0’ on the nineteenth century map at the left).
By accident, it records the oldest “0” in India for which one can assign a definite date.

Gwalior occupies a strategic location in the Gird region of India, and the city and its fortress have served as the center of several of historic northern Indian kingdoms.
The Gwalior Fort has changed hands many times, from the Tomaras in the 8th century it passed on to the Mughals, then the Marathas under the Scindia’s (1754), followed briefly by Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi, Tatiya Tope and the British.

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Endless Time

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“Time is endless in thy hands, my lord.
There is none to count thy minutes.

Days and nights pass and ages bloom and fade like flowers.
Thou knowest how to wait.

Thy centuries follow each other perfecting a small wild flower.

We have no time to lose,
and having no time we must scramble for a chance.
We are too poor to be late.

And thus it is that time goes by
while I give it to every querulous man who claims it,
and thine altar is empty of all offerings to the last.

At the end of the day I hasten in fear lest thy gate be shut;
but I find that yet there is time. ”
(“Endless Time” by Rabindranath Tagore- Indian Poet, Playwright and Essayist, Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, 1861–1941)

This is a window of the Jahangiri Mahal in Orchha which is located in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

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Mad Chess Players

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“Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do.
Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom.
I am not, as will be seen, in any sense attacking logic: I only say that this danger does lie in logic, not in imagination.”
(Gilbert Keith Chesterton – English writer, 1874 – 1936)

This was just a dream which happened over the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras).
Mirza Sajjad Ali and Mir Roshan Ali, two chess-obsessed men, used to meet everyday to indulge in their passion of the game, then little by little they became totally indifferent to the turmoil that surrounds them.
One day the Rumi Darwaza, also known as the Turkish Gate in Lucknow, tore from the ground and flew in the air.
It became a spectacular vessel which started a long journey over the Kingdom of Avadh.
Dreams are not meant to be real, with no doubt this one must have been inspired by “Shatranj Ke Khiladi” (The Chess Players) by Satyajit Ray…

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The Light that Brings Cold Cheer

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“Afar away the light that brings cold cheer
Unto this wall, one instant and no more
Admitted at my distant palace-door.
Afar the flowers of Enna from this drear
Dire fruit, which, tasted once, must thrall me here.
Afar those skies from this Tartarean grey
That chills me: and afar, how far away,
The nights that shall be from the days that were.
Afar from mine own self I seem, and wing
Strange ways in thought, and listen for a sign;
And still some heart unto some soul doth pine,
(Whose sounds mine inner sense is faith to bring,
Continually together murmuring,)
“Woe’s me for thee, unhappy Proserpine!”
(Dante Gabriel Rossetti – Ballads and Sonnets,1881)

One day, Proserpine, a young maid of spring, was out picking wildflowers with her mother, Ceres, goddess of grain when she saw the white petals of the narcissus flower. She began straying far from her mother.
Out of the dark depths sprang Pluto, god of the underworld. He grabbed Proserpine and drove his chariot back into the caves of the earth…
Ceres, devastated by the kidnapping allowed the earth to become barren.
Mercury, the messenger god, wandered the underworld until he came to the misty throne room of Pluto and Proserpine.
There he told Pluto he must return Proserpine.
She remembered the joyful times of her mother’s love, the wildflowers, and open sunlit meadows.
Before returning Proserpine, Pluto offered her the seeds of a pomegranate fruit.
When Ceres heard this, she told Proserpine that the fruit was a symbol of marriage.
As a result, when Fall and Winter come, the earth grows cold and barren because Proserpine must return to the underworld with Pluto.
But when she comes back, Ceres turns the world to spring and summer.
…This is how seasons began.
(Chrysantha Gakopoulos – The story of Ceres and Proserpina)

There is no editing on this picture which was shot at night at the ”Bosquet de la Colonnade” which stands in the gardens of the Château de Versailles.
The green lights were settled for a special evening.
This is a close-up of the famous group “Proserpine Ravished by Pluto” which is in the centre, it was sculpted by François Girardon in 1699.

 

“But my Soul”

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“For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart.
It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.”
(Judy Garland – American actress and singer, 1922–1969)

This was shot from the Chaturbhuj Temple situated in Orchha, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
This spacious Temple, enormous as any European cathedral was almost empty.
There was a young couple inside, they were engaged, not married yet but obviously deeply in love.
When they saw me coming they stopped holding their hands and whispering to each other.
They asked for a picture and took stricking formal poses.
A few minutes later as they were leaving the sanctuary, I saw the young lady standing at the gate, she was ajusting her sari with grace, like a fairy.
All around seemed to look a Bollywood set, even the “love” graffitis on the wall added an unreal touch to this dreamy atmosphere and it became a moment of magic framed in an everlasting sunset…

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Mystery at Dusk

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“Mystery is a resource, like coal or gold, and its preservation is a fine thing.”
(Tim Cahill – American writer, b. 1944)

This is a view from the Chaturbhuj Temple in Orchha which is located in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
This unusual Hindu temple built between the years 1558 and 1573 is dedicated to the four-armed deity, Chaturbhuj (chaturbhuj literally means four-armed).
Maharani Ganesh Kunwar, wife of Orchha’s ruler, Raja Madhukar, constructed the temple to specifically house an idol of Lord Rama.
While she was persuading the Lord to travel from his abode in Ayodhya to Orchha, he expressed the desire not to be displaced from the place he’d made his home.
The queen already had an idol of Rama installed in Rani Niwas (her private apartments), and when the Chaturbhuj Temple was completed, she decided to move the deity there.
According to Orchha folklore, Lord Rama refused to move.
The king immediately realised that his wife was honour-bound not to move the idol, and saved the day by installing the idol of Chaturbhuj (Lord Vishnu with four arms) in the temple instead.
That is how the shrine became the Chaturbhuj Temple.
Raja Madhukar Shah provided a kalasha or horn-shaped crown, made of over 100 pounds of pure gold, on top of the temple.
However a few years later robbers made off with the kalasha.
This is the legend associated with the Chaturbhuj Temple…

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A Static Idea of Life

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“There are men whose idea of life is tactic, who long for its continuation after death only because of their wish for permanence and not perfection; they love to imagine that the things to which they are accustomed will persist for ever.
They complete.”
(Rabindranath Tagore – Indian author, Nobel Prize of Literature in 1913, 1861-1941)

This is a view from a window of the Jahangiri Mahal in Orchha which is located in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
The Jahangir Mahal is an example of Rajput Bundela architecture, it was built by the Bundela king Bir Singh Deo and named after the Mughal emperor Jahangir who spent one night here.
It was during this period that Orchha reaches its height and the many extant palaces are a reminder of its architectural glory.

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