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A photograph of a ritual in progress: thick white smoke rises from a rectangular wooden platform stacked with dark cowdung cakes, dusted with white powder and sprinkled with red petals. Two polished silver oil lamps with burning flames stand in the foreground at the lower left. Behind the platform, two people in saffron and orange-red clothing are partly visible at the top corners, one with long dark hair. The scene depicts the purifying smoke step of preparing an aushada (Pudamgaatal). No one's face is clearly visible, so the a person candidate is uncertain.

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August 31 20172017-08-31 +1 copiesAugust 31 20172017-08-31August 31 20172017-08-31August 31 20172017-08-31A smoky ritual scene with a wooden platform covered in cow dung cakes or logs smouldering under a heavy cloud of white smoke. Two tall polished silver oil lamps with burning flames stand in front of the platform, and a coconut wrapped in an orange cloth with green leaves sits on a silver plate at the lower left. Floor is decorated with white powder lines and scattered flower petals. Blurred figures in orange and red clothing are visible at the top edge, with partial glimpse of a rudraksha-style arm adornment.2017-08-31 +2 copiesA photograph of a ritual pit lined with yellow-green painted edges and white powder markings, filled with dark stones and dense white smoke rising from burning cowdung. Two polished silver oil lamps with flames stand at the front, beside a bundle wrapped in orange cloth, a green leaf and a small pot. Scattered red flower petals decorate the platform. At upper left a figure in orange-saffron robes wears a long rudraksha mala and sits behind the pit; other people in orange clothing are partly visible at the back. The scene suggests a smoke purification ritual of aushadha.2017-08-31August 31 20172017-08-31August 31 20172017-08-31A photograph of a ritual scene with a large plume of white smoke rising from a rectangular stone-and-wood platform covered with white powder and scattered red petals. Dark stones or cowdung cakes sit in the smoking pit, with string tied across the platform. Two polished silver oil lamps with lit flames stand in the foreground, and a gold-and-orange cloth bundle with green leaves lies at the left edge. A person in orange robes with long dark hair and a beaded mala kneels at the upper left beside the platform, with other figures in orange clothing visible behind the smoke. The setting appears to be a Siddha purification process where herbs or medicine are exposed to smoke.2017-08-31A photograph of a ritual scene with a large plume of white smoke rising from a gold-framed platform where round cow-dung cakes are stacked and burning. Several young men in saffron-orange turbans and robes, wearing beaded necklaces and mala strands, sit at the left, one tending the fire with a metal plate. Oil lamps stand at the lower left and right. On the right, a seated figure in maroon-red robes, with bead ornaments and a crown-like headpiece, rests his hand on his chin beside a silver chair and a silver tray. Background devotees are seated in the dim hall.2017-08-31A photograph of a ritual in progress amid thick white smoke. In the foreground, a man with long dark hair and a bright orange headband, wearing orange clothing and a dark cord, kneels beside a yellow-draped wooden platform, tending burning cowdung cakes with his hands. Silver oil lamps with flames stand on the platform, with a silver vessel and a plate of cowdung cakes to the left, and a dark mound of burnt ash on the right. Behind, a seated group of people in orange and white robes watches the ceremony. A second person in orange stands in the background amid the haze. The smoke is part of a Siddha purification process for Aushada, prepared with cowdung fire and bhasma.2017-08-31August 31 20172017-08-31 +1 copies