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India: Holy Hobos (photo gallery)

Xeni Jardin at 11:19 am Thu, Jan 6, 2011

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A Hindu ascetic woman adjusts her hair after taking a dip in the Ganges river in Kolkata January 4, 2011. Hindu ascetics and pilgrims are making the annual trip to Sagar island for a holy dip, at the confluence of the Ganges river and the Bay of Bengal, during the one-day festival of "Makar Sankranti" on January 14.
(REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri)

More photographs of sadhus and wandering mystics follow.

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Sadhus, or Hindu holy men, cook their food on the banks of the Ganges river in Kolkata January 4, 2011.
(REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri)

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A Hindu ascetic woman smiles as she adjusts her hair after taking a dip in the Ganges river in Kolkata January 4, 2011.
(REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri)

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An ascetic, or sadhu, stands near the confluence of the Ganges River and the Bay of Bengal at Sagar Island, 150 km (95 miles) south of Calcutta, January 13, 2005.
(REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw)

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A Hindu ascetic smokes from a "chillum", or earthen pot, at Kamakhya temple during a four-day long annual "Ambubachi festival" in Guwahati, in India's northeastern state of Assam, June 23, 2010.
(REUTERS/Utpal Baruah)

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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  • Anonymous

    Too many smarmy comments of the cynical hipster variety. At least the ascetic greatly reduces the weight of consumption, unlike the “minimalists” who couldn’t exist without digital technology.

    http://www.adolphus.nl/sadhus/ NSFW

  • Kelione i Indija

    Exelent fotos for stories (history of dreds:). I like to see India some day.

  • Anonymous

    @doingdoing i totaly agree. my first trip to cali from maryland we hit two of the crazyest days of my life on the russian river. thou… its called reggae rising now. i’m not an inhibited person and was raving at 15.. but that ish was wild!

  • Anonymous

    An interesting side note: the term hobo doesn’t necessarily fit the Sadhus of India. While they are supposed to give up all worldly belongings before embarking on their spiritual journey, many often keep a bank account open under the care of family or friends in case they realize only too late that a life of poverty is a little more difficult than they realized (and if they end up not using it, they’re supposed to donate it to charity). Since Sadhus can come from any background, this could be in the millions of rupees if they were financially successful before taking up the life. There have even been cases of gangsters running off to Varanasi and living the holy life style in order to hide from the police. So under all that dirt could be a millionaire, a murderer, or one of the most devout people you’ll ever meet. In India, nothing is ever straight forward.

  • querent

    Shiva sativa, destroyer of worlds.

    I blew my mom’s mind once with, “Jesus was a bum.”

  • Anonymous

    I’m wondering what the story is on those women. They are wearing the signs of marriage (kunkuma in the part of their hair, red and conch shell bangles, pierced nose and other jewelry), so they would not really be considered ascetics. Women renunciates don’t wear the symbols of marriage, which are by nature signs of opulence.

    • Anonymous

      In reply to post #21, I was skimming the internet looking for information on Hindu female ascetics, after reading an essay about them by anthropologist Gananath Obeyesekere. He explains the personal symbolism behind the usually middle-aged married womens’ choices for growing long, matted hair. It is a wonderfully insightful essay although it is dense with anthropological language. If you are interested, the citation is: 1981. Medusa’s Hair: An Essay on Personal Symbols and Religious Experience. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. Part One explains female ascetism.

  • Anonymous

    awesome unicorn chaser after those disturbing CES photos. You’ve won my heart again Xeni.

  • doingdoing

    looks like reggae on the river.

  • Anonymous

    I whip my hair back and forth
    I whip my hair back and forth
    I whip my hair back and forth

    And seriously, if she did, she could hurt someone.

    • paperplanes

      LOLZARD

  • Anonymous

    Aum Shiva Shankara, Hari Hari Ganga & thanks for the beautiful images.

    Namaste @all and especialla @RobertBogelow and @Flaminica :-)

    BTW I lived in Kerala, India, as a kid in the 60s, and I don’t remember to have seen female saddhus back then …

  • RobertBigelow

    Namaste! (bowing gently, palms together and eyes cast downward)

    Were it not for my promises to continue as a feminist and information literacy advocate, I’d have considered entering some sort of a more substantial renunciation and further study along the traditional mystical path.

    ^..^~

  • Anonymous

    I’m not sure if the text is from Reuters or added by you, but just as a note: while Sadhus can be ascetics, and ascetics can in turn be Sadhus, they are not the same thing and are two separate traditions. The text does not, to me, make this clear.

    Just my 2 ducats =)
    -Ben

  • DSMVWL THS

    This is what happens when you stop using soap, kids.

    • GreenJello


      This is what happens when you stop using soap, kids.

      Cool! They look pretty happy.

  • erg79

    Chillin’ with a chillum.

  • Blinde Schildpad

    That pink nail polish is just fa-bu-lo-so!!!!

  • Flaminica

    Om Namah Shivaya

  • Anonymous

    #21 – Kumkum and jewels/bangles/nose ring are not the only marks of a married woman. A wedding thread/necklace called mangalsutra is the key piece which this Saadhvi does not have.

    Also the beads worn by this saadhvi in the photos is the Rudraksh bead (associated with Lord Shiva) and is deeply connected to asceticism. The color saffron is a sign of a mendicant as are the dreadlocks which no ‘civilian’ will keep.
    Also Godmen do wear precious gold items on their bodies. In India, no one rule fits all the time and I say this as an Indian American! :-)

  • moniker42

    India is definitively a more holy place than the decadent west. People in New York treat the homeless as if they should be spit upon. In the better place in the universe they are revered as being holy.

    • Hools Verne

      You can say a lot of things about India, but you cannot say that is free from class discrimination.

      • Ugly Canuck

        Well the caste system stinks, as far as I’m concerned; but any ancient culture that can produce occasional spectacles like this one:

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT8W006fqBU

        …and keep doing so, for centuries on end, is OK in my book.

        As to the smoker shown above, I say: Bhang, Shiva! Bhang!
        Boom Shiva!

  • Anonymous

    ascetic != hobo

  • sbarnes2

    That woman looks like Rapunzel’s hippie cousin. How long has she been growing her hair out? 20 years? Crazy.