The ancient city of Varanasi, called Kashi -The Luminous, The City of Light - was founded seven millennium ago by the Great Hindu God Shiva, the Divine Creator. Never incarnate, he is often depicted with four or five faces, holding a trident, draped with serpents, and bearing a third eye in his forehead.
Regarded as ‘The Creator of the Universe,’ he is identified with the lingam, a phallic symbol. He is often accompanied by a consort, a ‘Great Divine Mother,’ who assumes various forms including Parvati and Shakti, the vital primordial feminine energy that empowers Shiva.
In their quest for divine communion, devotees must demonstrate selfless love. Some ascetics choose to enter the Tantric realm, confronting life’s impurities of alcohol, sex, and death, merging the profane with the sacred to achieve the profound realization that Shiva is omnipresent. Others, like this Shaivite sadhu, a Hindu holy man, dedicate their lives to Shiva. They renounce family and caste ties, spending their lives performing extreme meditative and yogic practices.
I encountered this sadhu seated in the heart of the Old City, Vishwanatha Khanda, somewhere along the maze of meandering alleys overarched by ramshackle buildings, so decrepit that an earthquake will annihilate the inhabitants. For this photograph, he requested only a few rupees and was elated when shown his image.
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