There are 4 to 5 million sadhus in India today and they are widely respected for their holiness, and sometimes feared for their curses. It is also thought that the austere practices of the sadhus help to burn off their karma and that of the community at large. Thus seen as benefiting society, sadhus are supported by donations from many people. However, reverence of sadhus is by no means universal in India. Historically and contemporarily, sadhus have often been viewed with a certain degree of suspicion, particularly amongst the urban populations of India. Today, especially in popular pilgrimage cities, posing as a sadhu can be a means of acquiring income for non-devout beggars.
Hampi & it’s fact:
Domingo Paes, a Portuguese traveller who visited Hampi around 1520; gives a vivid description of the Bazaar (Shopping Complex of Hampi)
Going forward, you have a broad and beautiful street… In this street live many merchants, and there you will find all sorts of rubies, diamonds, emeralds, pearls, seed-pearls, cloths, and every other sort of thing there is on earth and that you may wish to buy. Then you have there every evening a fair where they sell many common horses and nags. Also many citrons, limes, oranges, grapes and every other kind of garden stuff and wood. You have all in this street.
How did I picture this:
I saw this sadhu walking towards us and I quickly grabbed my camera to capture this moment where Sadhu is been highlighted and behind him are a whole lot of people with natives in traditional sarees, a cow and foreign visitors exploring “once the greatest city of the world“.
More with the next picture.
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