International Studies- Photo Contest

Hands of Shivite

Peter Sebastian

Category: Emotion
Southern India
✠ Photo: Brihadeeswara, Temple of Thanjavor

In the middle of the Brihadeswara temple grounds sites a 25-ton statue of a cow called the Nandhi, safeguarded by a burnt orange fence. Behind this fence, a temple worker places the mark of Shiva, three white lines, on the foreheads of interested tourists or devout pilgrims both foreign and Indian. Between the exhausting work of marking hundreds of foreheads while constantly standing he took a break to lean against the fence. While constantly standing he took a break to lean against the fence. Although his hands leaning against the fence gave me a sense of his fatigue, I also felt as sense of his pride in doing such an important role by the way he delicately kept the white parts of his hands off the fence.