I’ve been avidly following some friends on facebook who are attending the  Kumbh Mela in India right now .  It is fascinating.  If Kumbh Mela doesn’t sound familiar to you, it is a huge festival where millions of Hindus head to the Ganges River to bath and to participate in religious practices.  

The Kumbh Mela take place every 12 years in four different cities.

Why does it fascinate me?  Yes, I’m interested in the religions of the world, but mostly I’m intrigued with Sadhus.  These are India’s wandering holy men.   

The Kumbh Mela draws Sadhus to partake in a month of spiritual cleansing.  In a way, it is their fair.  A convention of sorts. Pilgrims and tourists seek them out for blessings.  

Not sure why, but these ash covered or weirdly dressed folks have a magnetic draw for me. 

I’ve been lucky to have seen Sadhus in India.  I enjoyed this opportunity last November on a Jim Cline Photo Tour.  We went to a small festival in Rathjastan, where there were a handful of Sadhus situated around the river.  We saw them occasionally in other cities. 

I must admit I became a bit obsessed. Intensely curious.    Who are these people and why do they dress and behave the way they do?  In a funny way, they reminded me of the hippies who hung around Ann Arbor during my college years.  I’m not so sure those folks were all that religious.

Sadhus are wandering holy men who have renounced their worldly life, said good bye to their possessions and their families in order that they can lead a life of celibacy, ascetic yoga and a search for enlightenment.  

They make pilgrimages and some are nude and cover themselves with ashes.  There are some who test themselves by holding one arm in the air for years.  

According to most sources I read, they do have a tendency to get stoned out of their minds pretty regularly. Is this part of the search for enlightenment?   

They can be divided into many sects,  but most follow either the god Vishnu or Shiva.  You can find Sadhus in ashrams, temples in urban centers, in huts near villages, in caves.  

If they do wear clothes, they typically wear orange or saffron.  

Most live off donations from devout Hindus.  I read that there is a fine line between being a religious mystic and living as a shameless beggar.  

I was told that some of the ones draped in orange raggedly clothing are in it for “photo money.”  Basically they are homeless men out to fool tourists. 

A true Sadhu will cut ties with their families and worldly goods.  They are typically declared dead and sometimes attend their own funerals.  They must seek a guru to learn the ways of the Sadhu.  

I couldn’t tell the difference between the real and the fake.  The ones I encountered were exotic, strange and  fascinating to my Midwestern eye. 

I hope you enjoy the photos I took of the ones I saw and/or interacted with. I hope someday to go back and see more.  

For an interesting comparison, The Sikh’s have a group of religious warrior monks called the Nihang.  Here’s a post about them.  Nihangs.