Skip to content
Photograph of a large seated group of men in a hall performing a Shiva Deeksha initiation ritual. In the foreground, three shirtless men sit cross-legged on red mats wearing white dhotis with coloured borders; they wear white sacred thread across their chests, rudraksha-style beaded necklaces and white horizontal tilak marks on their foreheads. The central man holds two small wooden sticks in his hands and appears to chant with eyes lowered, while the men at left and right hold wooden pieces and look down in meditation. Behind them many more shirtless men with white body markings sit in rows, some with hands folded, and a blurred background shows a hall with lamps and a wall painting.