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A ritual fire ceremony under a tent-like canopy with bright lights and rising smoke. A shirtless young priest with a purple head cloth and beaded necklace leans over a wooden platform holding a metal vessel while a flame rises from it. Another priest in orange cloth and a white-clad assistant stand beside him. Marigold garlands, red flowers, bananas, fruits and a kalasha-like offering decorate the altar, and a young man in glasses wearing a white shawl watches at right. Yellow marigold garlands fill the foreground. Appears to be an abhishekam or homa offering in progress.

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December 02 20162016-12-02A photo of a ritual abhishekam under a tent-like canopy, with thick incense or camphor smoke drifting through the air. A young priest in an orange saffron cloth holds a microphone and speaks at a wooden platform, while beside him another young man with a pink headband, bare-chested, a rudraksha mala and white dhoti pours or tends a large copper vessel. The platform is heaped with marigold garlands, yellow flowers, bananas, oranges, apples and red blossoms. Lights hang overhead, and a few seated devotees and a bare-chested attendant in white are visible at the edges.2016-12-02Night-time ritual at an open pavilion with a wooden platform spread with yellow marigold garlands, orange and red flowers, fruit, bananas and a copper bowl. Smoke rises through the scene. A bare-chested priest in a purple head cloth, rudraksha mala and gold armband points or gestures over the offerings. Beside him a man in an orange-saffron shawl holds a microphone and sits at the platform. Other attendants in white dhotis and a man with glasses stand nearby, with a gilded ornate seat and a bright lamp overhead. Blurred marigold garlands fill the foreground. The scene reads as an abhishekam-style puja with offerings.2016-12-02December 06 20162016-12-06 +1 copiesA homa fire is burning in a sunken fire pit on a red floor inside a decorated temple hall, with a flower-tiered offering platform and coconuts and fruits to the right. Several priests in white dhotis with gold borders and bare upper bodies stand at the fire; the central priest in a maroon turban pours from a brass vessel with a flower garland, while others hold offerings. Umbrellas with ornate canopies and marigold garlands decorate the hall, and a few onlookers in orange and white sit at the edges. No figure is clearly identifiable as a person, so this is a ritual scene with priests and devotees.2018-04-14December 02 20162016-12-02A photograph of an abhishekam ritual at a covered outdoor hall with bright overhead lights and smoke rising. Three bare-chested men stand behind a long wooden platform heaped with marigolds, bananas and red flowers. The central man wears a purple turban, a white dhoti, and a rudraksha mala, and pours liquid from a brass vessel. The man to the left holds a microphone and a folded orange cloth. The man at right wears glasses and a white shawl with a pink border. Yellow marigold garlands and fruit fill the foreground, and seated devotees are visible in the background. No identifiable a person appears in the image.2016-12-02 +1 copiesNovember 07 20132013-11-07Outdoor homa ritual under a open-sided canopy with palm trees behind. A shirtless priest in white dhoti and a pink head cloth, wearing multiple garlands and a blue-beaded necklace, holds a ladle over a wooden fire altar where flames and thick smoke rise. He holds a woven basket of offerings. Seated beside him, a man in an orange-saffron cloth and white dhoti wears a garland and watch, and other seated priests in white dhotis watch. Yellow marigold petals decorate the wooden altar edges with white kolam-like patterns. Behind them, a crowd of devotees sits in the smoke. Brass vessels and a lit oil lamp sit on the right.2016-09-09Night-time homa at an open pavilion. In the foreground, a shirtless priest in white dhoti with a gold-bordered yellow cloth and a red tilak sits cross-legged before a wooden fire altar, holding a ladle over the fire. Beside him, other priests in white and saffron-orange cloths sit on mats. Smoke rises from the fire pit, which holds brass vessels, lit oil lamps, rice offerings and red flower petals. To the right, a figure with a red-and-orange turban, a long rudraksha mala and a brown-and-red robe sits on an ornate gold-and-red throne. Behind him, a screen shows a colourful image. Strings of lamps hang overhead, and deity murtis draped in garlands stand at the left.2016-12-07A shirtless man in white dhoti with a red-and-gold headcloth bows over an oil lamp with a visible flame, held before a low offering table of marigold garlands, bananas, oranges, coconuts and leaves. Behind him a seated crowd of devotees in white clothes watches; a golden ornate throne stands at right and a brass vessel sits at left. Smoke rises from a fire pit.2016-12-12A photograph of a homa or yagna ritual at a fire pit (kunda) carved from stone with flower petals scattered around it. A priest on the left, bare-chested in white dhoti with a pink and orange head cloth, pours an offering from a ladle into the fire while holding a brass bowl. Three men sit behind him: one in a yellow cloth with a rudraksha mala, one wearing spectacles and a yellow cloth, and one bare-chested with beaded necklaces. On the right, a red-and-gold-draped altar holds several kalasha pots wrapped in yellow marigold garlands, with red flowers. Red curtains form the backdrop. No a person candidate is clearly visible, so the role-based description stands.2018-01-31