Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith
DYUTIMAN MUKHOPADHYAY PHOTOGRAPHY
The fire-ritualists of Varanasi—1 of 5 series
Varanasi is one of the oldest cities in the world located on the banks of the holy river Ganges in India. A special group of priests (the fire-ritualists) of the legendary temple of Shiva offer their evening thanksgiving known as the 'Sandhya Arati' to the River Goddess. The event is one of the most well-known and revered religious practices in India. Varanasi is the place where I learnt photography and spent countless hours on the bank of the Ganges. Amidst the dirt and dust and heat and humidity you can feel a unique oneness with the universe—a feeling that is hard to explain but tangibly felt if one has faith (Mukhopadhyay, 2021). It also makes us appreciate the fact that life is ephemeral and transient if not meaningless when you see human bodies floating in the river like dead twigs or the sound of skulls cracking when bodies are burnt on pyres—bodies of billionaires and bodies of beggars—the ashes smell the same. The smoke from the pyre never dies though and you come to realise that while you are trying to make a grand blueprint of your future—somebody, somewhere is smiling and just letting us play with our toys. It imparts a sense of humility, gratitude, and contentment and lets us realise the power of faith.
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
December 26, 2012; Varanasi, India; Camera- Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
The fire-ritualists of Varanasi—2 of 5 series
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
December 26, 2012; Varanasi, India; Camera- Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
The fire-ritualists of Varanasi—3 of 5 series
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
December 26, 2012; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
The fire-ritualists of Varanasi—4 of 5 series
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
December 26, 2012; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
The fire-ritualists of Varanasi—5 of 5 series
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
2002; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon FX 35 mm film SLR.
Night Crawlers
The city sleeps
By the dark river,
Too tired to think—
About the hustle and bustle of tomorrow. . .
The sky has a hush glow,
Not a single star show,
Only distant lamps
Shiver—in cold. . .
The city sleeps in deep slumber. . .
A squatted shadow—
Cloaked in gloom—
Waits, and waits—
For eternity. . .
A squelch in mud?
A weary slouch?
Someone has risen?
Trudging through?
The mole cricket holds its tongue. . .
The shadow sighs—
The strain of a frail arm
Beckons—as it shivers,
In fear? in cold?
‘Let’s go’—they say each other,
‘Let’s go!’
—dyutiman mukhopadhyay.
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
December 27, 2012; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
And quiet flows the dawn
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
December 28, 2012; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
The timelessness of an ageless city—1 of 2
—At the dead of night
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
2002;Varanasi, India; Camera- Canon FX 35 mm film SLR.
The timelessness of an ageless city—2 of 2
Tilted temple half sunk in river.
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
2002;Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon FX 35 mm film SLR.
Morning River
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
2002/3; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon FX 35 mm film SLR.
A musical rendezvous by the Ganges
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
2002;Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon FX 35 mm film SLR.
For a fistful of coins
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
March 2005; Varanasi, India; Camera—Nikon FM-10 35 mm film SLR.
Amour
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
August 6, 2017; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
Ecstasy
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
December 29, 2012; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
Two pigeons on a bamboo parasol—Varanasi
Bamboo parasols beside the river Ganges in Varanasi, popularly known as ‘Chhatris’, are the iconic landmarks of Varanasi—where the Brahmin priests sit and read the scriptures, offer prayers and practise religious rituals for the visitor clients—from weddings to funerals.
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
August, 2009; Varanasi, India; Camera—Nikon FM-10 35 mm film SLR.
I give myself to Thee
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
December 29, 2012; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
The music of the river
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
December 29, 2012; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
Composition with sparrows and rice grains—1 of 2
Rice grains are offered to birds—a ritual in India widely seen in Varanasi.
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
August 6, 2017; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
Composition with sparrows and rice grains—2 of 2
A sparrow feeding on rice grains.
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
August 6, 2017; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
Those Eyes
A child beggar at the end of her tether near the temple gate.
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
August 7, 2017; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
Rows and rows of fences
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
2002/2003; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon FX 35 mm film SLR.
Twilight reflections
Ducklings in The Ganges
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
2002/2003; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon FX 35 mm film SLR.
Break of morn
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
2004; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon Prima 28 mm Automatic Film camera.
Start of the day
One of the famous dark, narrow alleys of Varanasi.
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
2004; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon Prima 28 mm Automatic Film camera.
Timeless and Ageless
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
2002/2003; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon FX 35 mm film SLR.
Shared Dreaming
In search of a shadow—
Shining in the dark—
But only for a while—
Like the tired gleam—
Of a dying fire-fly.
I'm just a blind traveller—
Whose journeys always end in dead ends—
Though that is not my failure—
All that matters is my ‘search’.
—dyutiman mukhopadhyay.
Inspired by the poem ‘Paurosh Pathor’ or Philosopher’s Stone by Rabindranath Tagore.
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
August 7, 2017; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon EOS 60D DSLR.
Artistic Rendering—January 09, 2021.
Pyre Fire
—Manikarnika, Varanasi
The title ‘Pyre Fire’ was suggested to me by Euterpe , who in Greek religion is the enigmatic goddess of lyric poetry—the giver of delight and yet who plays the music of sadness—of love, death and war—whose Rococo statue in the Belvedere gardens at Vienna and a later painting by Giuseppe Fagnani (1869) left such an indelible imprint on me that I am still haunted by a recurrent dream about her playing the flute in a Shakespearean tragedy narrating her own childhood poems.
Tell me O Vanity—
From the smell of fire—
From the smoke of pyre—
Who IS this lucky one?
Is he the blessed who won the heart?
Or is he the blighted who was torn apart?
Is he the priest who gave it all?
Or is he the beast in drunken brawl?
Is he the Master of the Magic Lamp?
Or is he the vagrant, lonely tramp?
Tell me O Vanity—
From the smell of fire—
From the smoke of pyre—
Who IS this lucky one?
Is he the prince or the pauper?
Is he the sad, old, dreary joker?
Is he the rebel with all his might?
Or is he the poet with nothing to write?
Is he the dreamer who dreamt of Love?
Or Is he the drifter in poison grove?
Tell me O Vanity—
If I am right—
The smoke from pyre—
Glows so white!
—dyutiman mukhopadhyay.
—Bodies being burnt in Manikarnika, Varanasi - one of the most revered Hindu crematoriums where the bodies of dead people are burned and the fire never dies.
Theme—Varanasi, India—Womb of Faith.
August 7, 2017; Varanasi, India; Camera—Canon EOS 60D DSLR.