Sadhus

Namaste!

You can meet these people in the streets of Nepal and India, especially at the sacred Hindu places. Sadhus are ascetics who follow a path of penance and austerity to attain enlightment. They wander the roads and forest, never staying long in one place.
Many sadhus imitate the mythological life of Shiva. They carry a symbolic trident and wear three stripes of ash upon their foreheads to represent Shiva’s quest to destroy three impurities – selfishness, action with desire and the material world.

The saffron coloured robes worn by many sadhus signify they have been symbolically washed in the fertile blood of Parvati, Shiva’s wife. They let their hair grow in dreadlocks called “jata”.
Acts of penance such as standing on one leg or holding one arm in the air for 12 years are said to have let the sadhus considerable powers such as levitation, invinsibility and the ability to grow or shrink to any size. Some perform penances such as burying their heads in the ground.
Both these sadhus I shot at Basantapur.