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According to the holy scriptures of Hindus, there are seven sacred cities called as Sapta Puri, which one must visit to attain Moksh (Salvation). These seven holy cities are Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya (Haridwar), Kasi (Varanasi), Kanchi (Kanchipuram), Avantika (Ujjain) and Dvaravati (Dwarka). These are also considered to be the holiest Hindu Tirthas. Each city has a strong connection with Hindu deities like Kashi is associated with Lord Shiva.

This photo-story was shot at Manikarnika Ghat in Kashi AKA Varanasi at an annual event  famously known as Masan Holi on 4th march 2023. 

Masan Holi is mostly observed among the devotees of Lord Shiva using pyre ashes at Manikarnika ghat. It is believed that Ash or Bhashma is very precious and auspicious in relation to the practices of Lord Shiva. It is also believed that Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati played Holi with other Gods and Goddesses on Rang Bhari Ekadashi after they got married, but because Lord shiva's preferred supernatural beings didn't come out during the festival, he returned to the Masan ghat next day to play Holi with them. And since then this tradition is set to represent Lord Shiva's acceptance and love for all beings,visible and invisible. 

 

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Going through the crazy crowd, the photographer kept scanning for a story and this is when he saw this young man with great intensity on his face. He was talking to someone in sign. He looked interesting to him and so he started following that character with his lens.

It so turned out that the character has a name: Shivam Jha. He was keeping Maun Vrat (Vow of Silence) on that particular day and so was talking in sign language only. So he told the photographer about himself by writing on his phone and sent the same on WhatsApp text message. The man was amazing and so was the experience to be around him.

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Rajeev Singh is a Science graduate from University of Allahabad and a MBA from UP technical University. He is an entrepreneur by profession and a Photographer by passion. He started his photographic journey almost 25 years ago with a film point and shoot camera and it’s been a journey of continuous learning and understanding of the art. As a photographer he loves to share the inner beauty of those with whom he shares his slices of life and the outer beauty of their world through images. His goal is to offer a little hope to other human beings, in the process. He mostly clicks candid portraits to capture spontaneous emotions, street photographs to capture the pain and pleasure of daily life, landscapes to freeze the beauty in nature, architectures and landmarks to celebrate human creativity and craft and, last but note the least, the ruins to explore the lost stories.