technology in India
The day we went to Konarak, near Bhubaneshwar, we spent a few hours climbing around on the temple and then Roxanne said, "There's a group of sadhus around here who do some great singing. They keep a dhuni. I've been there before. Let's find them."
A dhuni, she explained, is a sacred fire that is always kept burning. But it was the singing she wanted to hear. I wasn't so sure about leaving the temple grounds because we'd paid the non-Indian price to get in, which was ten times the Indian price, but we walked the perimeter until we could see, hidden by a berm of earth, a little village. Visible from where we stood was a cemetery and sure enough a very smoky-looking hut, definitely worth a look.
Not far from there we found the back exit to the temple, which was open (we could have saved paying the Indian or non-Indian price to get in if we'd wanted), so we went out and back around the fence to the village. As soon as we walked into the cemetery some young sadhus approached us and then an older one. He had long ash-laden hair tied up in a topknot and wore a long red shirt and lungi. Luckily they spoke one of the languages Roxanne knows, and pretty soon we were being ushered into the hut, which was incredibly black and smoky-smelling. At its center was a trianglar fire pit, on the sides low shelves with metal dishes and pots of them, and in one corner a bed. The ceiling was almost entirely black.
A straw mat was laid on the earth floor for us to sit on. The baba who kept the fire looked like he was in his late forties or fifties and spoke reasonably good English. It was the middle of the afternoon, so the fire, which he claimed had been burning continuously for 5000-6000 years, was down to embers. Roxanne asked him some questions about the singing (unfortunately that baba had died) and his lineage, and then he invited us to return at sunset. One of the younger men said something to him quietly to which he answered, "Of course they are sadhaks (seekers). Otherwise they wouldn't be here!"
.
We walked back to our guest house, found Krishna, and the three of us returned to the cemetery at dusk. The sadhus already were making a lot of noise when we returned, banging drums, chanting, ringing bells, wishing the sun well as it went down, but there was no kirtan-singing. Again we entered the blackened hut where we found the monk deep in meditation, his eyes rolled up so only the whites showed. We sat down on the mat and joined him in silence. After a while he came to and began a long chant while he scooped ghee (clarified butter) out of a little pot and threw it on the fire. The fire liked that and began to burn brightly.
When the chant was over, Krishna volunteered that his family used the same mantra every evening at dinner time and offered to sing a song for the sadhu. Krishna is quite an extraordinary singer and it was obvious that his song was a success. As Krishna sang, the sadhu slipped back into a trance, and so did Roxanne and I. We sat a long time, even after the song was done.
Imagine our surprise when the phone rang. I opened my eyes to see the sadhu leap across the room, pick up a cell phone from the bed, and answer it.
It seemed like an important call so we got up quietly and left.
Technology in India.
A dhuni, she explained, is a sacred fire that is always kept burning. But it was the singing she wanted to hear. I wasn't so sure about leaving the temple grounds because we'd paid the non-Indian price to get in, which was ten times the Indian price, but we walked the perimeter until we could see, hidden by a berm of earth, a little village. Visible from where we stood was a cemetery and sure enough a very smoky-looking hut, definitely worth a look.
Not far from there we found the back exit to the temple, which was open (we could have saved paying the Indian or non-Indian price to get in if we'd wanted), so we went out and back around the fence to the village. As soon as we walked into the cemetery some young sadhus approached us and then an older one. He had long ash-laden hair tied up in a topknot and wore a long red shirt and lungi. Luckily they spoke one of the languages Roxanne knows, and pretty soon we were being ushered into the hut, which was incredibly black and smoky-smelling. At its center was a trianglar fire pit, on the sides low shelves with metal dishes and pots of them, and in one corner a bed. The ceiling was almost entirely black.
A straw mat was laid on the earth floor for us to sit on. The baba who kept the fire looked like he was in his late forties or fifties and spoke reasonably good English. It was the middle of the afternoon, so the fire, which he claimed had been burning continuously for 5000-6000 years, was down to embers. Roxanne asked him some questions about the singing (unfortunately that baba had died) and his lineage, and then he invited us to return at sunset. One of the younger men said something to him quietly to which he answered, "Of course they are sadhaks (seekers). Otherwise they wouldn't be here!"
. We walked back to our guest house, found Krishna, and the three of us returned to the cemetery at dusk. The sadhus already were making a lot of noise when we returned, banging drums, chanting, ringing bells, wishing the sun well as it went down, but there was no kirtan-singing. Again we entered the blackened hut where we found the monk deep in meditation, his eyes rolled up so only the whites showed. We sat down on the mat and joined him in silence. After a while he came to and began a long chant while he scooped ghee (clarified butter) out of a little pot and threw it on the fire. The fire liked that and began to burn brightly.
When the chant was over, Krishna volunteered that his family used the same mantra every evening at dinner time and offered to sing a song for the sadhu. Krishna is quite an extraordinary singer and it was obvious that his song was a success. As Krishna sang, the sadhu slipped back into a trance, and so did Roxanne and I. We sat a long time, even after the song was done.
Imagine our surprise when the phone rang. I opened my eyes to see the sadhu leap across the room, pick up a cell phone from the bed, and answer it.
It seemed like an important call so we got up quietly and left.
Technology in India.
posted by Eve at 1:34 PM
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