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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Sacred Moments

“A ritual becomes the match that lights the kindred celebration candle of sacred moments long ago… tantalizing these entombed spirits to surface again.”
(Wes Adamson)

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.

Eid Mubarak

“ Abraham said:
“I will go to my Lord! He will surely guide me “O my Lord! Grant me a righteous son!” So We gave him the good news of a forbearing son. Then, when the son reached the age of serious work with him, Abraham said: “O my son! I have seen in a vision that I offer you in sacrifice: now see what your view is?” The son said: “O my father! Do as you are commanded: you will find me, if Allah so wills, one of the steadfast!”
So when they had both submitted Allah and Abraham had laid his son prostrate on his forehead for sacrifice, We called out to him “O Abraham! You have already fulfilled the dream!” – you are indeed Do We reward those who do right.”
(Qur’ân – verse 37:99 to verse 37:109)

Islam focuses on Abraham more than either Judaism or Christianity, but with an important difference: where Judaism holds that one becomes a descendant of Abraham through birth, and Christianity that one becomes a descendant through faith, Islam holds that descent is unimportant – Abraham, in other words, is not the father of the believing community, but a link in the chain of prophets that begins with Adam and culminates in Mohammad.
Islamic traditions consider Abraham the first Pioneer of Islam (which is also called millat Ibrahim, the “religion of Abraham”), and that his purpose and mission throughout his life was to proclaim the Oneness of God.
When Abraham was asked for sacrifice, he took Ishmael to sacrifice. When he was about to use the knife, God placed a sheep under his hand.
Abraham had shown that his love for Allah superseded all others: that he would lay down his own life or the lives of those dearest to him in submission to Allah’s command.
As a reward for this sacrifice, God then granted Abraham the good news of the birth of his second son, Is-haaq (Isaac).
Muslims around the world commemorate this ultimate act of sacrifice every year during Eid al-Adha, to follow the path of Abraham that is called Qurbani (sacrifice).

During this festival in Varanasi (Benaras), it is common for Muslims and non-Muslims to visit their Muslim friends and neighbours on Eid to convey their good wishes and share a meal or sweets.
This is a view shot from the upper terrace of the Bara Imambara in Lucknow built by Asaf-ud-Daula, the Nawab of the city, in 1784.
The two minars on the left belong to the Asfi Mosque and on the right stands the Rumi Darwaza known as the Turkish Gate.
This picture of the City of Nawabs, the capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, allows me to wish everyone a happy and peaceful Eid Mubarak.
“May Allah ease the suffering of all people around the world…”

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The Holiest Situation Upon Earth

“Benares. This holy city of the Hindus was at the height of its prosperity at least a thousand years before the birth of Christ, and was already old when Plato taught in Athens and when the earliest Roman fortress rose upon the Palatine.
The first view that I gained of Benares from across the Ganges quickened my pulse and made me catch my breath, not merely from its great antiquity, but from the fact that to a vast proportion of the human race this is the holiest situation upon earth, raised spiritually as far above the ordinary abodes of man as the unrivaled summits of the Himalayas soar above the plains of Hindustan.”
(From “India – John L. Stoddard’s Lectures” by John L. Stoddard, published by Norwood Press in 1901)

This is a view of the Ganges in Varanasi (Benaras) from Scindia ghat to Munshi ghat.
It was shot at the end of the day when the light comes from the west and gives the feeling that sunsets don’t last very long in the Eternal city…

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Feeling Strength

“You feel your strength in the experience of pain.”
(Jim Morrison – American singer-songwriter and poet, 1943-1971)

Like many men in Varanasi (Benaras) this pehlwan (Indian wrestler) comes to an akhara every morning at dawn or before sunset in order to perform his daily physical training routine.
For this training they use heavy club-lifting like “gadas”which are a way of testing strength and balance.
The mace is associated to the Indian god of strength, Hanuman, who is almost never depicted without one.

This is a new picture from a series of 16 published in the new issue of Mascular Magazine (from page 136 to page 145 ),
www.mascular.co.uk/Magazine/Issue4.Winter2013/Mascular4
(When opening this magazine be aware that there are a few pictures with “explicit content” there)

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The Road Toward Freedom

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“I am interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos-especially activity that seems to have no meaning.
It seems to me to be the road toward freedom…
Rather than starting inside, I start outside and reach the mental through the physical.”
(Jim Morrison – American singer & poet, 1943-1971)

This man was bathing before sunset in the holy waters of the Ganges at Shivala ghat in Varanasi (Benaras).
He smiled and laughed at my joke regarding his untied langot…

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Friend or Foe

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“A man’s own self is his friend. A man’s own self is his foe.”
(Bhagavad Gita)

Those two young men were having fun of a boat at Bhonsala ghat in Vanarasi (benaras).
It was at the end of an afternoon during May when the heat was almost unbearable.
They jumped into the holy waters of the Ganges and enjoyed this bath.
Those words from the Bhagavad Gita are not meant for them however it was easy to connect this image to the duality between friend and foe.

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Merit and Wisdom

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“In order for us to progress smoothly and swiftly on our spiritual path, we need the help of two things – merit and wisdom – they are like the 2 wings of a bird, lacking one will cripple our progress.
We need to accumulate merit and wisdom with joyful effort and enthusiasm.
Merit without wisdom or wisdom without merit will not help.”
(His Holiness Jigme Pema Wangchen, the Twelfth Gyalwang Drukpa)

This is the main door of the ancient palace in Leh, the capital of Ladakh in the Himalayan hills.
It was shot at sunset.
This palace was modelled on the Potala Palace in Lhasa (Tibet) and is the highest building in the world of his own times.
Leh has for centuries been an important stopover on trade routes along the Indus Valley between Tibet to the east, Kashmir to the west and also between India and China.
The main goods carried were salt, grain, pashm or cashmere wool, charas (cannabis resin) from the Tarim Basin, indigo, silk yarn and Banaras brocades.

Feeling Eternity

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“We feel and know that we are eternal”.
(Baruch Spinoza – Dutch Philosopher, exponent of the Rationalism, 1632-1677)

The Tomb of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq is located to the south of Tughlaqabad in New Delhi.
Built by Ghiyasuddin Tughlak during 1321-25, it is an impressive structure with red sandstone with the walls being sloppy.
Pentagonal walls enclose the tomb giving an impression of a fort.
In here sleeps not only Ghiyas-ud-din but also his wife, Makh Dumai Jahan and his second son Mahmud Khan, who died with him under the pavilion.

The mausoleum itself is very simple like a warrior’s tomb, with the same sloping red sandstone walls which are Tughlaq hallmarks.
Each wall has arched gateways decorated with latticework and white marble and the dome is entirely of white marble.
This rather severe tomb does allow itself a few inscribed panels, arch borders, latticework screens and ‘lotus-bud’ edges which decorate it.
Towards the left of the entrance, in the corridor, there is a tiny grave which is said to be that of the sultan’s favorite dog; which is not exactly a typical thing for a Muslim, who consider dogs unclean, to do.

Ghiyas ud-Din Tughluq’s (غیاث الدین تغلق) real name was Ghazi Malik, he was the founder and first ruler of the Turkic Muslim Tughluq dynasty in India, who reigned over Sultanate of Delhi (Sep, 08, 1320 – Feb, 1325).
He has been the founder of the third city of Delhi called Tughluqabad.
His mother was Hindu.
He had established himself as a great ruler.
He removed corrupt officials from his administration and reformed the judiciary and all existing police departments.
He also reduced the land revenue to 1/10 of the produce.
He was an efficient administrator and a capable military commander and introduced a number of reforms for his welfare of his subjects and suppressed revolts in distant provinces.
He restored peace and stability in the Delhi Sultanate.

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The Pavilion of Heaven

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“…I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;I change, but I cannot die.
For after the rain when with never a stainThe pavilion of Heaven is bare,
And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams
Build up the blue dome of air,
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,
And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,
I arise and unbuild it again.”
(From “The Cloud” by Percy Bysshe Shelley- English Poet, 1792–1822)

This is Bir Singh Deo’s chhatri which stands on the bank of the Betwa river in Orchha, a town in Tikamgarh district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
During the rule of his ally, Mughal Emperor, Jahangir, Raja Bir Singh Deo (r. 1605-1627) became the most illustrious ruler of Orchha and erected a total of 52 forts and palaces across the region which are a reminder of its architectural glory.
The term “chhatri” means umbrella or canopy, it is a cenotaph (empty tomb) or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere.
Those memorials are basic element of Hindu as well as Mughal architecture.

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