November 20 2006 - Nithyanandapedia

Nithyanandapedia

November 20 2006

More like this

Open the gallery

November 20 2006

November 20 2006

November 20 2006

Outdoor ritual at a stone-walled construction site. A woman in orange robes sits on a green chair at the far side of a square stone fire pit or sanctum platform, holding a lit oil lamp or flame. Two young men in white with orange shawls sit beside her. Dozens of women and girls in white clothes with orange shawls, several with long braids, sit in rows on a woven mat facing the platform. Brass lamps, a kalasha-like vessel and offering plates with fruit sit on a white cloth. Four tall decorated poles with painted elephant motifs and two colourful canopy umbrellas frame the scene, with a patterned banner strung between poles. Cut earth and stone walls surround the platform. Dense trees stand behind.

Outdoor ritual at an ashram site under a cloudy sky with large trees behind. A stone-lined pit with a raised slab sits in the centre, with brass oil lamps, a kalasha-like vessel and flower offerings around it. A standing figure in a saffron/orange robe stands at the far side of the pit, and two men in white with orange shawls stand to the right beside a tall decorated pillar. On the left a man in white kneels pouring liquid from a pot near the pit. Decorated saffron-yellow umbrellas and a painted bunting banner frame the stage area. Rows of seated devotees in white clothes and orange shawls fill the foreground, many with orange sashes, with a few women in white and a woman in a blue salwar. The scene suggests a consecration or purification ritual at a construction site.

November 20 2006

Nithyanandeshwara Paramashiva Devalaya

January 15 2011

Outdoor gathering on a hillside among trees, with a large crowd of devotees seated on the ground facing a distant raised platform. Most attendees wear white clothes with orange-saffron shawls draped over their shoulders, and several women have long braids. Tall decorated poles with colourful pennants and a small shrine-like structure stand among the trees. A figure in orange at the far centre appears to be seated on the raised platform, though details are too small to confirm.

Outdoor photo of a seated figure in an orange sannyasi cloth with long dark swept hair and a small forehead mark, sitting on a wooden seat before a low square fire pit of white bricks. Brass vessels, a silver pot and a small brass kalasha-style vessel sit on the brick platform beside a microphone stand. Around the pit, a crowd of about a dozen people sits on the ground wearing white garments with orange shawls, seen from behind. Large banyan trees with aerial roots and a open book on a stand frame the scene. Appearance-based cues of long swept-back hair and orange clothing mark a probable Swamiji (probable) presiding over a homa, seated on the wooden seat with the ritual vessels nearby.

Outdoor ritual at a construction site beside a square stone-walled pit with a concrete rim. A standing figure at right in long swept-back dark hair and an orange shawl, with hands folded in prayer, faces a seated group of about 40 devotees on mats and blue cloth. Most wear white or orange robes and sit with palms pressed together. Oil lamps, a brass pot with a green plant, flower petals and offerings lie on the concrete platform. Piled bricks, palm trees and a corrugated shed form the background.

A photograph of an outdoor ritual under a corrugated metal shelter with bamboo supports and decorative cloth-wrapped posts. In the centre stands a man with long dark hair in an orange robe with a rudraksha-style mala, holding a staff. Behind him a decorated dark wooden peetha or throne with floral garlands and a framed image rises beside a draped altar table with brass vessels. Around small brick fire pits on mats, several seated participants wear white dhotis or saris with orange shawls; some sit on the ground near brass bowls, plates and flowers. Standing attendants in white clothes watch at the edges, and a hillside of rocks and grass forms the backdrop.