South India 2008

Photos by Adam Jones

These photos were taken during two-and-a-half months in South India
(states of Karnataka, Goa, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala) from June to August 2008.

Gallery 8: Madurai

I.

All the photos in this gallery were taken inside the Sri Meenakshi-Sundareshwara temple,
a glorious repository of Hindu art and architecture, and a hubbub of religious activity. With its profusion
of gods and colourful depictions of them, Hinduism to the outsider can seem almost Disney-ish. This
was the first time I had a sense of it as a living faith and a passionately-held belief system.

II.

III.

I believe this detail from a mural on a temple wall depicts a sati, i.e., a widow-
burning of the kind that has been traditional in Hinduism, and still occurs today --
whether the sati is willing or not.

IV.

This smaller gopura was the only one left uncovered by the repainting, and
gives a sense of the wider architectural and artistic scheme of the temple.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

Three of the fifty or so Hindu priests employed full-time in the temple.

X.

Pilgrims pay their devotions by candlelight.

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