In this photograph, a disciple (chela) pays homage to his guru, who in turn gives his blessing. The relationship between guru and student begins as one of obedience and servitude. Once the disciple is deemed fit for the ascetic life, he will be given initial instructions and prepared for initiation. Though they often differ between sects, initiations all center round the idea of rebirth: the chela severs all ties with his earthly life, symbolically dying as a human and then is reborn into the divine life. His guru gives the initiate a new name reflective of his new holy family and status, imparts a powerful, personal mantra. The chela serves and worships his guru as god-incarnate, as in this photograph, whereas the guru takes full responsibility for his disciple’s spiritual education and earthly life, including his bad karma. Large festivals like the Kumbh Mela often provide a chance for students to meet their teachers in order to check in and receive further instructions. A young disciple will travel and study with his teacher for years.

Body Language-The Yogis of India and Nepal
Venue: Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street New York, NY 10011
Dated: January 28, 2011 - July 4, 2011

Mystics, sages, Babas, Rishis—the wandering yogis of India and Nepal have long occupied an enigmatic place within popular imagination and mainstream Hinduism. Collectively known as sadhus—derived from the Sanskrit term sadhana denoting “the means for attaining a goal”—these itinerant holy men renounce worldly life, material possessions and social obligations in order to devote their lives to rigorous religious practice and the pursuit of enlightenment.

The Hindu ascetics are living embodiments of the spiritual ideals articulated in ancient literature and expressed in the divine models of the gods Shiva and Vishnu, devotion to whom defines the two categories of sadhus: Shaivas and Vaishnavas. Famous for matted locks, ash-covered nakedness, and colorful painted ornamentation (tilaka), the yogi’s body is not only an expression of his sectarian allegiances, religious discipline, and inner visions, but also his primary vehicle for achieving the ultimate goal of liberation. Various methods including celibacy, meditation, yoga, austerities and mortification allow the sadhu to reach an egoless state that transcends the physical body and brings him closer to oneness with the Divine.

A long-time resident of Kathmandu, photographer Thomas Kelly has become acquainted with the sadhu inhabitants of the Nepalese city’s holiest shrines and privy to their most personal practices. His intimate portraits grant us entry into the mysterious world of the yogis and the sacred stories told by their bodies.

Exhibition Prints Available:
On 100% archival Mueso silver rag paper. Printed at Santa Fe Editions, Santa Fe, New Mexico/ Gary Mankus.
14X20 inch image size on 17X22 inch paper size
20X30 inch image size on 24X 36 inch paper size

Or, on Kodak professional matt paper with 100 year archival quality made on Noritsu LPS 24 pro Japanese Kodak printer in Kathmandu, Nepal
16X20 inch paper size
20X30 inch paper size

(Shipping of the prints are done in a PVC tube)

Please contact tkelly@photo.wlink.com.np for Price inquiry and further information.

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A sadhu’s body is a display of his ascetic identity: his clothes or nudity separate him from the populace, while his painted markings, called tilaka, indicate his divine focus of devotion. Ranging from a simple daub of color to complex patterns involving the entire face and other body parts, basic tilaka designs mark a sadhu's religious and sectarian affiliations but may incorporate elaborate, individual variations. The vertical design of this sadhu's tilaka shows him to be a Vaishnava, or follower of Vishnu, whose gentleness is reflected in his devotees and their clothing of white or yellow, the colors of purity and surrender.

After a sadhu bathes to purify the body, he applies the tilaka while uttering mantras to sanctify his body, thus completing the ritual that transforms the body into a vessel worthy of receiving divine power and giving worship to God.

Mundane motives often mix with spiritual aspirations when a person decides to join the brotherhood of sadhus. Asceticism not only offers a life devoted entirely to religious study and the possibility of spiritual attainment, but also one that is free from the social bonds of family and the restrictions of caste. Boys in early adolescence, like the young sadhus in this photograph, can be adventurous in their abandonment or simply practical, having few other options if they are orphaned or impoverished.

These two young Vaishnavas with colorful tilaka perhaps chose the life of a sadhu over that of a lower caste member, or a family tragedy may have forced them into this role. Regardless, they are better provided for and will have more opportunities than many of the poor and homeless in South Asia. Renouncing his birth family for one of the Hindu gods, a young sadhu adopts as his new family Vishnu, Brahma or Shiva as well as his guru and brother sadhus.

While some sadhus value a more energetic and impressionistic approach to tilaka, others value precision and complexity in their body art, such as the ascetic pictured here, who has written sacred text, likely mantra or hymn, across his face. This unique tilaka might be an act of devotion to his tutelary deity, offering a prayer to Vishnu as part of his daily activities. However, painting the efficacious syllables of an esoteric mantra on the body might suggest more magical motivations.

Mantras have myriad meanings and uses, both public and secret, including magical incantations for healing, invocations requesting the presence of a god, primordial sounds of Creation and the Absolute, and repetative prayer aimed at focusing the mind on a deity. During a sadhu’s initiation, his guru imparts to him a powerful, personal mantra, which is never spoken aloud. This mantra established the psychic bond between teacher and student, through which guidance may be asked for and issued.

Vaishnava sadhus like the two brothers in this photograph are identified by their vertical tilaka consisting of three parts: two yellow or white arcs form a U-shape from the bridge of the nose to the hairline and a red dot or line fills in the center. Different Vaishnava sects reinterpret this basic form, resulting in a variety of distinctive tilakas and symbolic meaning. These two sadhus bear a swath of red set off by yellow patterning symbolic of the bow that Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, used to slay the demon Ravana and to save his wife Sita in the Hindu Ramayana epic. The Tengal Vaishnavas draw a trident, while the Badgals and Acharis interpret their tilaka as the white sole of Vishnu’s right foot on a lotus with the red center representing Lakshmi.

Red pigment made from turmeric called “the powder of Shri”, referring to Vishnu’s consort, and white or yellow clay called gopi-chandana, a type of sandalwood that comes from a sacred Vishnu site, are used by Vaishnava sadhus to create their tilaka decorations.

Though the vast majority of sadhus are men—their various communities are frequently referred to as brotherhoods—women too renounce the worldly life in favor of one dedicated to spiritual practice. Sadhvis, like the Vishnu devotee in this portrait, typically enter the ascetic life when they are older, usually widowed or still unmarried. Traditionally, widows have been marginalized in Hindu society, the legacy of an ancient belief in the deeply inauspicious character of a woman who’s lost her husband; asceticism offers an alternative to this stigma. Not all sects accept women, while a few are composed entirely of sadhvis, and history is marked by a number of important woman-saints. However, women do occupy a lower position in the spiritual hierarchy.

Red, orange, saffron, ochre and pink—the colors of fire, the sun, sacrificial blood and the earth—are the shades preferred by Shaivas are most commonly recognized by their distinctive tilaka, composed of three horizontal lines across their foreheads made with sandalwood, other yellow or orange pigments or ashes from the sacred fire (vibhuti). The three lines are associated with Shiva’s iconic trident, symbolizing the oneness of the Hindu trinity of Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu. Often a red or black dot, the bindu, representing either the “void” or Shiva’s powerful third eye, is incorporated into Shaiva tilaka, as this sadhu’s forehead decoration displays.

Emulating the model of Shiva, Lord of Yogis, this Shaiva sadhu wears his hair in matted locks (jata) and dons multiple strands of rudraksh-bead rosaries (malas), used primarily to count mantra recitations and as a kind of amulet. Shiva’s jata control the force of the River Ganges as it falls from heaven and serve as the seat of his yogic powers; to sadhus the locks are a symbol of virility and supernatural power.

Shiva is a god of countless manifestations and a variety of forms, each famed for certain attributes, deeds and powers, and the Shaiva sadhus seek to emulate the image of the deity outwardly, while working toward internalizing the god’s being and knowledge through ritual and spiritual practice. On the surface, this sadhu adopts the characteristics of Shiva: he sanctifies the body with sacred ash tilaka, wears his hair in matted locks to evoke yogic power, and carries the god’s iconic trident (trishul), the weapon that connects heaven and earth. On a deeper level, however, the sadhu performs all daily activities, both sacred and mundane, as rituals dedicated to the Divine, thus transforming his whole existence into holiness. The sadhu seeks to be like Shiva and finally be in complete union with him.

Because the sadhus imitate the gods in appearance and behavior, they are perceived and worshiped as living idols with the ability to accumulate and channel spiritual energy to the laity.

This ash-covered sadhu, a member of the Naga sub-sect, holds up his right hand in the abhaya mudra, which expresses “have no fear” and grants a blessing. Nudity is the ultimate expression of asceticism, for it represents an absolute renunciation of the material world and its attachments, as well as a complete transcendence of sexuality and the sensual body. Remaining nude or semi-nude in all weather conditions is considered a severe austerity and an emulation of Shiva, who himself is digambara or “sky clad.” Naked ascetics seem to have been ubiquitous before British rule, but nowadays only fully initiated Shaiva Nagas can go nude and typically only for special occasions.

Both Shaivas and Vaishnavas cover themselves in sacred ashes, or vibhuti, like this Naga Baba. Vibhuti is usually taken from the sadhu’s own sacred fire, that of a temple or, most potently, cremation fires. Considered the prasad, or “food,” from the god of Fire, the vibhuti represents to the sadhu the conquering of death and the destruction of his karma in the fire of austerity.

In this photograph, a disciple (chela) pays homage to his guru, who in turn gives his blessing. The relationship between guru and student begins as one of obedience and servitude. Once the disciple is deemed fit for the ascetic life, he will be given initial instructions and prepared for initiation. Though they often differ between sects, initiations all center round the idea of rebirth: the chela severs all ties with his earthly life, symbolically dying as a human and then is reborn into the divine life. His guru gives the initiate a new name reflective of his new holy family and status, imparts a powerful, personal mantra. The chela serves and worships his guru as god-incarnate, as in this photograph, whereas the guru takes full responsibility for his disciple’s spiritual education and earthly life, including his bad karma.

Large festivals like the Kumbh Mela often provide a chance for students to meet their teachers in order to check in and receive further instructions. A young disciple will travel and study with his teacher for years.

Original size: 2160x1440 |

Current: 800x534 |

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