Faith 2- Old Man Offering Prayers

Its the same old man whose sketch appeared on my blog sometime ago.This is another image, here he is offering sacred water to the SunGod, standing on the steps of the Ganga river. This ritual is observed by many devotees in Hindu religion.It comprises worshipping the rising sun with water from the Ganga, flowers and other holy items like kumkum, chandan and dhoop.One can See hundreds of people going through this ritual in the spiritual towns like Haridwar, Rishikesh and Varanasi.

This drawing was done on full sheet, my first in this size.Thus it took a bit of time- I couldn't calculate the hours ; I would say it took me about 7-8 days to finish. ..And lots of work:)
The photo is not very good as the paper I used had a yellowish tinge, it was to big, and there is very little sunlight today.Sorry about that!

Graphic pencil on paper, 30"x22"

Spiritual_2

Another portrait in Rishikesh series..a sanyasi basking in the winter morning sun ....
watercolor 16"x12"

Spiritual

This was done from a photo that my husband took on our recent trip to Rishikesh, a spiritual Indian town, also my birth place and hometown. My husband took a lot of pictures here , in the early morning sun.It was a time for prayers and meditation. This lady was also busy reading her holy book. She is wearing sffron robs, a color of spirituality, sacrifice and salvation.

The scene around here in the early morning looks very serene with lots of sadhus meditating and praying .
I always love quietly sitting on the ghats or roaming at the riverbank ; its immensely peaceful here. Ganga , or the Ganges, as it is globally called; is purest at this juncture, just flowing down from hills of Himalaya.

watercolor on 16"x10" paper

The Monk

I painted this today but the subject is from my archive...A photo I took on my last trip to Rishikesh.The sadhu was soaking in morning sun on the steps near the Ganges.He happily posed for me.
I wasn't doing portraits sicnce last month , so here it goes....

Water color on the Langton paper 14"X10"

Rishikesh pics

This man was selling a stencil made of a plastic ring and some plastic disks.The disks have holes in them at strategic places.and one can put his pen through the holes and move the discs along in circuler movements to produce beautiful patterns!I used to love this toy a lot when I was Arjun's age....its a local favourite here....Now he is enjoying it! Mind you, its not easy!I made some really weird patterns while trying to teach it to my son!

This vendorselling spices on sidewalk...

The Ganga

This place is called "Swargashram", meaning -"Heavenly Abode"...

Both banks of Ganga river are joined by a narrow hanging bridge that you can see at a distance here.

An old boat resting on the bank. Only other way to cross this river ....



People enjoying a boat ride in the deep waters of this holy river.