Skip to content
Nithyanandapedia
March 22 2008

More like this

Open the gallery
A man in a grey t-shirt, maroon checked lungi and white head cloth crouches on a concrete platform, smoothing wet grey mortar along the edge of a square, stepped concrete structure with a dark recessed pit. A trowel and a mortar tray lie on the ground at left. Behind, several seated people in white, blue and green clothes watch, and a white pedestal holds a dark deity murti garlanded with flowers near a tall tiered tower with palm trees beyond.2008-02-23March 22 20082008-03-22 +1 copiesOutdoor ground-level ceremony at a construction site of dirt and bricks. A man in white dhoti and shirt bends forward with a brick in hand, a rudraksha-style mala visible at his neck. Beside him a woman in an orange-trimmed white sari and a woman in a red sari with a shawl kneel and stand around a square brick enclosure being laid out in the sand. Stacked bricks lie to the right, and white-clad onlookers and a parked car stand in the background, with a pink-shawled figure at the left edge.2006-12-22December 19 20062006-12-19A close photo of a worker kneeling on a concrete floor beside a set of freshly cast grey concrete steps. The worker, wearing a light blue t-shirt and a dark patterned lungi, uses one hand to smooth or trace a shallow shape into the edge of the step. A shallow stone bowl holds grey wet cement mortar, and a small stone block sits in the lower foreground. Only one partly visible person is present, and no a person candidate is visible.2008-03-22September 09 20132013-09-09An open-air courtyard of a temple-style ashram with palm trees behind. At the centre stands a tall orange-red shrine with a kalasha-like finial, and nearby a seated figure in an orange robe sits on a raised orange platform. Around the courtyard, a row of small square fire pits is occupied by seated people in white dhotis and shawls, some with ochre or yellow cloths, performing what appears to be a homa or yagna. Grey stone deity murti and carved figures line the back left. In the foreground a raised stone platform with a small covered box and a white floral kolam is shaded by a tent canopy, with a person in a maroon robe seated at the left edge and another in pink at the right.2010-09-17A square homa fire pit with a brick-lined interior sits on a white-plastered platform decorated with red kolam-style lines, surrounded by striped mats. Four coconuts with green leaves rest in silver-patterned bowls in the foreground, and small oil lamps line the right edge. On the right, a seated priest in a rust-orange robe with bare, shaved head and white ritual markings on his upper arm faces the pit and gestures with his hands, wearing a headset. Behind the fire pit a large seated group of about thirty participants wears white clothing with orange-ribboned lanyards and red sashes; a woman in a red-and-orange sari sits in the centre, and a woman in a white robe on the left is kneeling. A red-draped figure and a golden structure appear at the top left and a red statue-like form at the top centre.2013-03-29Outdoor homa or fire ritual at an ashram courtyard with palm trees and orange-walled buildings behind. A central figure in saffron-orange robes and a long beaded necklace holds a lit oil lamp aloft over a white stone fire pit, while another man in white sits beside him. Brass vessels and a kalasha-style pot sit on the platform, and orange-and-green offerings lie to the right. Around the pit, dozens of men and boys in white dhotis and kurtas sit in rows, many with lanyards, with a few Western-looking men among them, watching the ceremony.2010-12-16July 11 20142014-07-11An outdoor ritual at a homa fire pit in a temple courtyard. A priest in white dhoti with bare upper body, a yellow turban and sandalwood-marked arms holds a plate over the burning fire pit. Behind him, a deity murti is decorated with a large garland of red, yellow and orange flowers, flanked by marigold offerings and kalasha pots on a red-draped platform. On the left, a shaved-headed man and a young attendant in orange robes sit with folded hands. On the right, a young woman in orange sari with rudraksha mala sits near the fire. Brass vessels and ritual implements rest on the stone fire pit.2013-09-09April AF 2012