Highly Commended in Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year 2015

The Hindu festival of Kumbha Mela is the largest religious congregation on Earth. It is held in the four cites of India, namely Haridwar, Allahabad, Ujjain and Nasik, in rotation after a gap of three years each, returning again to the same city after twelve years, at an auspicious time related to the celestial cycle. A dip at the sacred hour in the holy rivers associated with the cities, to wash away the committed sins, is the main purpose of pilgrimage to the Kumbha. It is visited by people across the country, mainly by Hindu devotees and largely by the holy men called the sadhus. Of the most important of the sadhus visiting Kumbha mela are the Naga or naked sadhus, who are the warrior ascetics and disciples of Shiva, the Hindu God of creation and destruction. In appearance these sadhus try to resemble Shiva, staying naked, covering their bodies with ash and wearing long hair. On the important bathing dates of the month long festival, new sadhus are initiated at the sect at the different akharas or camps leaving their earthly possessions, even clothes. All old and new Naga sadhus assemble at camps and head for the river in a procession to bathe at the auspicious time and only after them all other devotees are allowed to take bath. Kumbha mela is a religious festival of extraordinary grandeur and the Naga sadhus form the main attraction.

India is a great country not only because of its vastness, but for its variety also. It is great because of its human resources, natural bounty, diverse cultures and ways of life. Varied are the nature of the demands of its people and also the range of the commodities that are sold through the markets strewn across the country. The great Indian bazaar caters to the needs of its thousand million people. A vast country like India has various geographical regions that are fundamentally different from each other and as such, the bazaars have strong regional characters. So attractive is the Indian market and the prospect for trade in it, that it has lured the foreign traders from time immemorial which has even cost her freedom. Even today the multinational and national companies strive to bring under control the lucrative Indian market. These photographs show the salient features of the Indian marketplaces, like the shop display they offer, the regional characters they describe, the variety of products they sell, the cultural environment as well as the economic level of the people they portray etc. It is a visual journey from the small remote weekly village marketplaces to the modern urban supermarkets that happily coexist in our country, so unique in its diversity.