Mendicants.....

May 5, 2008

Here’s a picture I like against all the rules.

The rules are:

  1. Don’t have a tree in the middle of the photograph.

  2. Do not have a distracting element (like the gate-post) at one side of the photograph.

…and some others, too.

holy mendicants bandipur jlr 270408

But…

I love that tree, and the steady stride those sadhus (religious mendicants) are keeping up, the casual curiosity of one, and the open road that lies beyond the gate of the JLR property; the gate and the wall stand for what is enclosed,known, secure; the road stands for what is open, unknown, a mystery… and those mendicants, with no worldly possessions, are off on that road…a road, hopefully, to the discovery of the universe within themselves.

On the way back, we also saw several Buddhists monks travelling. But these are Jain monks, I think, or Hindu ones…I don’t know.

Bandipur…always something to intrigue one, and make one think.

I do wish I could shed my worldly possessions and stride off towards the forests like these monks are doing….!

Here’s the cropped photo; no gate, only the tree, the monks, and the song of the open road:

<h1></h1>

This may not be a “distracting” photograph, but to me the unworldliness of the road and the monks lacks a counterpoint.

That’s the difference between the content of a photograph and its artistic composition!