Archive for category ‘Nepal’

Pashupatinah

After crossing Bagmati river, the car stops on a little vacant field. Little Santosh , our Sherpa Nepalese guide, tells us we’ve arrived. Until we get off and put our photo equipment in place, he hurries to arrange for our entry pass at  Pashupatinah temple.  This is one of Nepal’s   sacred places, a Hindu   temple   complex   devoted to Lord Shiva , the death and resurrection deity. It is the place where the Hindus come to cremate their dead and commemorate the ones that passed, for a full year. A year after, the commemoration ends as it is believed that the spirit embodied in another living being, an inferior or superior one, depending on the life the deceased had  led: a worthy or sinful one.

Pashupatinath is one of the most significant Hindu temples of Lord Shiva, in the world. Erected in 17 th century, the temple is part of the Nepalese pagoda architecture style, and is listed on   the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Pashupatinath is the name of a local Nepalese deity that gained fame as the Lord of all Animals. Consequently, in the open courtyard where the temple stands, there’s a flourishing population of macaque monkeys and even a natural park for herbivores. Regarded as the most sacred among the temples of Lord Shiva, Hindus alone are allowed to enter the temple premises. Non-Hindu visitors are considered impure, therefore they are banned going inside the temple.

However, attending the funeral ceremonies that take place on the holy river banks, is allowed. We find ourselves walking along stalls filled with cult objects for Hindu processions, “assaulted” by   ambulant souvenir merchants, to shortly get to the heart of the temple complex,  located  on the banks of Bagmati river. It’s early morning and the funeral processions have already started on both banks of the river. Without all that hustle-bustle it doesn’t really feel like Asia. We spot a few cremation places on the right bank: upstream for upper castes, downstream for the lower castes. On the left bank (which is more abrupt) there’s some kind of a platform where all funeral ceremonies are performed. The Hindu priest, and the family of the deceased, perform a relatively simple ceremony of remembering the deceased and giving offerings to the deities for protecting the spirit.

On my first Nepalese visit back in 2007, it felt awkward to take pictures as I wasn’t familiar with the Hindu customs and the way they regard their cremation ceremonies. I couldn’t help comparing them to Romanian funerals. I admit, I find it difficult to accept that you can take feature photos at a funeral without unwillingly disturb the funeral procession. However, the Nepalese taught me that death can be looked upon with peace and detachment in both Hindu and Buddhist religions.

During the first morning hours, light falls from a grazing angle on the abrupt riverbank, wonderfully highlighting all the volume elements. On the stone terraces, small groups of priests and devotees, jostled against each other among offerings and cult object, are performing the rituals “of sacrifice”. All offerings, as the meaning of the word suggests, have vegetal origin, so the whole place is scattered with leaves coming from the tiny leaf-plates which are offered to the holy river waters. The ashes resulting the cremations is also scattered on the wholly river. The upper caste Hindus afford to use large quantities of wood for incinerations, which reduce the body to ashes. Lower caste Hindus on the other hand, don’t afford it, so it is not unusual to see half burned body parts floating on the river…an extremely shocking sight for the European eye.

As the light was favorable, I followed the only bridge across the river, in an attempt to capture the river from a better angle. The cremation ceremonies take place on the bathing steps near the river as well as upon the first two elevated platforms. On the upper, wider platform tourists can watch the funeral processions on the other side of the river as well as the ones performed on the downward platforms. The “show on display” is quite diverse and colorful, but   also quiet and dignified. As we had limited access, I used the telephoto lenses for most of the shots, which gave me enough time to observe the subjects without making them  uncomfortable.

“I work from awkwardness. By that I mean I don’t like to arrange things. If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.”

Diane Arbus.