The Line of Lamps

The Ganga Aarti at Varanasi — a priest sweeping the chamar low over the brass lamps, the line of altars receding down the ghat. Signed archival print, framed and ready to hang.

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A priest stands barefoot on a raised platform, head bowed, sweeping the yak-tail chamar down and across in front of him. The hair fans out and blurs where it moves fastest, and his face is half hidden behind it.

Where the first photograph in this pair looks up, this one looks along. From the priest in the foreground the frame runs back down the ghat past four more, each at a slightly different point in the same motion, until the last dissolves into smoke and distance. Beside them, the altars: brass lamp stands, tiered deepaks, marigolds scattered across red and gold cloth, and an open flame burning in a shallow dish at the front left.

The crowd fills the right side and climbs the steps behind — hundreds of people standing, some with hands joined, watching something they have probably watched before and will watch again.

It is a photograph about repetition. Five priests, five altars, the same gesture staggered along a line, and a ceremony that has been performed at this spot every evening for longer than anyone in the frame has been alive.

Shot in available light at night, without flash. The colour comes from the oil lamps, the string lights on the poles, and the crimson and saffron the priests are wearing.

This is a document rather than a decoration. It suits a study, a hallway, a reception, a restaurant or a hotel lobby, and anyone who has stood on that ghat will know exactly where it was taken.

Printed on archival paper with pigment inks, signed and numbered as a limited edition. Supplied mounted and framed under glass, with a certificate of authenticity.

Specifications
Subject: Ganga Aarti, Varanasi
Medium: Archival pigment print
Paper: Acid-free fine art paper
Edition: Limited edition of 10 signed and numbered
Sizes: A0 (118.9x84.1cm), A1 (84.1x59.4cm), A2 (59.4x42.0cm), A3 (42.0x29.7cm), A4 (29.7x21.0cm)
Framing: Mounted and framed under glass
Included: Certificate of authenticity
Delivery: Tricity delivery included; shipped India-wide