Skip to content
Nithyanandapedia
A photograph of a devotee in a temple setting with his back toward the camera, wearing a white dhoti-style cloth draped over his shoulder and a white sacred-ash-smeared bare back. Two lemons tied with orange thread are pinned to his upper back, consistent with a lemon-piercing ritual. He wears dark-rimmed glasses and has hair tied back. To the left, an older man with grey wavy hair in a white checked shirt stands facing a wooden slatted screen. To the right, a smiling woman in white with a white forehead mark and a long braid stands beside him. Another person in orange clothing is partially visible in the background near a red wall.

More like this

Open the gallery
July 15 20112011-07-15A bare-chested man with ash-white smeared across his chest, shoulders and forehead stands in a room with orange walls and white-framed windows. An older man in glasses, white checked shirt, white moustache and a red-orange thread on his wrist pierces lemons onto the man's back and shoulder. Several yellow lemons with orange cords hang from the skin, and a rudraksha mala hangs across the chest. A second man in white stands behind at right.2011-07-15July 15 20112011-07-15A photograph under a corrugated metal roof shows a bald, bare-backed man with a dark rudraksha mala bowing forward while another man in a white shirt presses grey ash or paste onto his back with both hands. A smiling man at left, wearing glasses, a white dhoti, a bare upper body and a rudraksha mala, holds a white cloth. Behind them, several men in white shirts and lanyards stand watching. A painted red, blue and white pillar with floral motifs and a bird emblem stands at right, and hanging green leaves decorate the ceiling. The ritual appears to be an ash application or blessing.2011-07-15A bare-backed man with grey-streaked hair tied back wears orange-rimmed glasses and a white cloth over his shoulder while a white-haired older man in a checked shirt applies white powder. A second bare-chested man stands behind them with orange-brown sacred ash on his chest and shoulders and an orange cord around his neck. Items sit at the edge of frame, and a poster-like backdrop is visible above. The body a person is described as probable: the central man has long swept-back hair and a white shawl, but the cues are weak, so this identification is uncertain.2011-07-15A photograph of a temple pavilion with a corrugated metal roof and a painted pillar in the background. In the centre, a bare-chested man with cropped light hair, a dark rudraksha-style bead necklace and white dhoti stands with his back to the camera, hands clasped, his shoulders marked with white paste. Beside him, another bare-chested man in a white dhoti has yellow lemons or fruit pinned to his back, and a third man in a white dhoti stands to the right. On the left, an older man in glasses with a white tilak and dark beads smiles while holding his hands together. Men in white dhotis and shirts with event lanyards stand around, and an orange cloth backdrop with string lights and a garland is visible at right.2011-07-15July 15 20112011-07-15July 15 20112011-07-15May 19 20122012-05-19 +1 copiesA photograph of a shaved-headed priest in a white dhoti and pink-bordered shawl, his bare upper body showing and a gold necklace at his neck, extending his hand to pour or offer a substance into the cupped hands of a woman in white with a black ponytail and gold bangles. Behind them a man in white with a rudraksha mala and a vertical tilak stands watching, and in the background other devotees in white clothes with yellow and orange shawls stand near orange and red painted walls.2010-08-11A photo of devotees seated on the floor of a temple hall during a lemon-piercing ritual. Several bare-backed men in white dhotis sit in rows, their backs dusted with white powder and fixed with yellow lemons. A bearded elderly man with a white beard and forehead tilak sits at right, while a standing man in white shirt and dhoti with a gold necklace holds something at the upper left. Orange cloth hangs on the left wall, and a glass display box and a framed deity picture stand at upper right.2011-07-15July 15 20112011-07-15