Swami Ram Kripalu Das Ji inside his Bharat Milap Ashram on the bank of the Holy Ganges river at Mayakund, Rishikesh, Himalayan foothills of northern India.
“His Holiness Swami Ram Kripalu Das Ji was born in Orissa on September 27, 1940. He went in search of his master at sixteen years of age. After some wanderings by way of pilgrimage he reached Uttar Kashi and thence he went to Gomukha to surrender himself at the feet of His Holiness Sri Vishnu Das Ji. After a Tapasya of about ten years in the Himalayas, he descended on a nationwide pilgrimage of the four Dhams. He later settled down at a lower height in Uttar Kashi. Uttar Kashi Ashram was washed away in Ganga floods a few years ago and now His Holiness has taken abode in Maya Kund, Rishikesh (quite near the ashram of the famous saint H.H. Sachchindanand Ashram of Rishikesh).” Bio published in a small 1982 booklet by the Teachers Co-operative Educational Journals and Publications Ltd., D.N. College, Lucknow.
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Tibetan Gaden Jangtse monks huddle over the creation of a sacred sand mandala, an intricate centuries-old meditation motif made from millions of brightly coloured sand grains. The Gaden Jangtse monks are now centred at Gaden Monastery (Jangtse College) in Mundgod, Karnataka, India.
The monastery moved from its original site in Gaden (near Lhasa, Tibet’s religious and administrative capital) to its present location in southern India following the 1959 Chinese occupation of Tibet. The settlement of Tibetan refugees living in exile around Gadan may be the largest of its kind in India today.
Underlying the creation and ultimate dismantling of the sacred sand mandala is the essential Buddhist doctrine of impermanence and the notion that all existence is in a constant state of flux. The Tsengdok Monastery Association describes it as follows:
“Mandalas are drawings in sand of the world in its divine form and represent a map by which the ordinary human mind is transformed into the enlightened mind. The creation of Sand Mandalas takes place over four to seven days, beginning with special prayers and chanting ceremonies. They work all day placing sand practically grain by grain as they create these incredibly rare forms of art and faith ... Upon completion of the Mandala the monks hold a dismantling ceremony whereby the Mandala is blessed a final time and the grains of sand are swept up into a pile – erasing the once beautiful work of art. Some of the sand is given to people present, as a small blessing for their home or gardens, and the remainder is taken to a nearby body of water where it is poured into the moving water which carries the prayers and blessings throughout the earth.”
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Tags: Tibetan Gaden Jangtse monks mandala Monastery Mundgod Karnataka India Tsengdok red saffron colours Buddhism DocumentaryPhotography StreetPhotography HumanInterest VisualAnthropology meditation devotion religion GettyImages explore people asia portrait
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Tibetan Gaden Jangtse monks huddle over the creation of a sacred sand mandala, an intricate centuries-old meditation motif made from millions of brightly coloured sand grains. The Gaden Jangtse monks are now centred at Gaden Monastery (Jangtse College) in Mundgod, Karnataka, India. The monastery moved from its original site in Gaden (near Lhasa, Tibet’s religious and administrative capital) to its present location in southern India following the 1959 Chinese occupation of Tibet. The settlement of Tibetan refugees living in exile around Gadan may be the largest of its kind in India today.
Underlying the creation and ultimate dismantling of the sacred sand mandala is the essential Buddhist doctrine of impermanence and the notion that all existence is in a constant state of flux. The Tsengdok Monastery Association describes it as follows:
“Mandalas are drawings in sand of the world in its divine form and represent a map by which the ordinary human mind is transformed into the enlightened mind. The creation of Sand Mandalas takes place over four to seven days, beginning with special prayers and chanting ceremonies. They work all day placing sand practically grain by grain as they create these incredibly rare forms of art and faith ... Upon completion of the Mandala the monks hold a dismantling ceremony whereby the Mandala is blessed a final time and the grains of sand are swept up into a pile – erasing the once beautiful work of art. Some of the sand is given to people present, as a small blessing for their home or gardens, and the remainder is taken to a nearby body of water where it is poured into the moving water which carries the prayers and blessings throughout the earth.”
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Life on the pavement in an urban squatter settlement set against the contrasting backdrop of an upscale high-rise apartment complex in Mumbai’s Colaba neighbourhood, Maharashtra, India.
"Politics as architecture" or "urban slums and the politics of water", or simply “class conflict” are among other relevant titles that might be applied to these visuals.
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Colourful tribal-trader families who ply their wares along the beaches and flea markets of Goa are loosely referred to as “gypsies” by the large expat community of western travelers who have gathered here over the years since the initial hippy heyday of the 1960s.
The Banjara nomadic peoples or so-called “Gypsies of India” have spread over the centuries from their origins in northwestern India (Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh) to other states in India. The women traders stand out with their striking costumes and embroidery decorated with coins and mirror chips, thick bangles, bone bracelets, heavy silver jewelry, gold nose rings and tattooed hands.
This young trader travels from place to place in eastern India with her family and subcommunity of tribal vendors. She is likely from one of the Lambani tribal settlements further to the south in the adjoining state of Gujarat, although it is also likely that several families have settled in the Anjuna-Calangute-Mapusa region of Goa on a semi-permanent basis due to the resurgent tourist trade. Slide scan, shot with an Asahi Pentax SP Spotmatic on a late December afternoon before sundown at Baga Beach, Goa, India.
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