Sadhus are always interesting because they have cast off the normal obligations of life. As with our earlier encounter with them they are always visually interesting and exotic.
I took this photograph in Haridwar in the state of Uttarakand in the north west of India during the Kumbh Mela (Hindu pilgrimage meeting) that took place there this year.
Pilgrims from all over India come together at certain locations at auspicious times in order to bathe in the River Ganges. The locations in which they gather have their origin in the mela or pot out of which four drops of the elixir of immortality fell to Earth. One drop fell at Haridwar.
As I was taking the photograph, I wondered whether these men were what they seemed.
Sadhus are a kind of perpetual Hindu pilgrim. They follow a life centered on the pursuit of enlightenment or moksha and the rejection of family life and social obligation. Bathing in the Ganges at propitious times is part of that life.
They are obliged to live simple lives with few possessions and with simple tastes in food. They must live without working, and therefore they are dependent upon the generosity of others.
The orange-colored garments that the men in the photograph are wearing are common to most Hindu pilgrims and sadhus.
Fashion
Fashion and custom have changed so quickly in the West in the past few years that it is no longer possible to say that any style of dress is outlandish to the point that it wouldn’t be seen on the street.
Still, a troop of men dressed like this would be quite something if seen here in England. Perhaps a group of monks in their religious habits would be the equivalent, but hardly as remarkable to Western eyes.
However, whereas becoming a monk in Western society inevitably involves joining a religious order, anyone who chooses to renounce worldly endeavors in search of enlightenment may become a sadhu.
There are religious orders to which seekers after enlightenment can attach themselves and there is a long tradition of the teacher or guru, but a person can become a sadhu without any attachment to an established order or to any person.
Huge numbers of pilgrims gathered for the 2001 Maha Kumbh Mela or Grand Mela in Allahabad – some reports said that 60 million people attended.
Certainly we saw endless rows of tents set up in camps outside Haridwar for those devotees attending the Kumbh Mela there this year.
I was looking for answers to the question of how many of those who attended were sadhus or whether all the sadhus in India attend the Melas.
I asked Dolf Hartsuiker, author of a terrific website called Sadhus and Yogis of India for his opinion and he kindly replied, saying:
As you said yourself: It’s very hard to say who are the ‘real’ sadhus. If you take this to mean those who are members of the ‘official’ akharas, the number is rather small – a few tens of thousands at the most.
Apart from these there are quite a few non-affiliated ‘holy’ men and women. Their numbers are decreasing.
And, of course, fake ‘holy’ men, swindlers. Their numbers are increasing.
If you take all these together, perhaps a million or so. A very rough estimate.
There were never 60 million lay pilgrims at the 2001 Kumbh Mela in Allahabad (I was there).
These numbers are always enormously exaggerated. Perhaps a few million over a period of 4 to 6 weeks, so not all together at the same time.
Not all sadhus attend the Kumbh Mela – far from it. The actual number of ‘real’ sadhus at any Mela is not more than a few thousand. Mostly the loudmouth, power-seeking types, attend. Not the ‘spiritual’, religious-minded.
So I don’t know what the men I photographed were beyond that they were dressed exotically and seemed as though they had given up a settled life. But who knows, because in India there are untold thousands, perhaps millions of people who are traveling some road or other and do not have a settled life. It did illustrate for me how difficult it is to try to understand what is going on when one sees such a group of men.
Were they sadhus, entertainers, pilgrims… who knows.
The Little Girl
Did you notice the little girl standing by the roadside in the photograph at the top of this article, looking at the men?
I didn’t notice her when I took the photograph and it was only when I looked at the photograph on-screen that I noticed her standing there – just watching.
Smile
During the Mela, the main street in Haridwar is a highway for pilgrims who have come into town.
As I was walking along the street, I saw this man. As soon as we saw each other, we smiled. After a moment, I asked whether I could take his photograph and he obliged.
Photograph taken, I watched him as he continued his walk down the dusty street and smiled to myself as I saw him deftly help defuse a brewing argument between a rickshaw driver, his fare, and another family. Then he continued on his way.
Although I only had a brief encounter with him. I trust my judgement enough to think that he was a gentle person.
