river temples, a photo from Bagmati, Central

Photographer's Note

upstream from the ghats..

courtesy of wikipedia

"Bagmati(Nepal Bhasa:बागमती खुसी, Nepali: बागमती नदी) is a river of Nepal. It flows through the Kathmandu valley and is the river separating Kathmandu from Lalitpur. It is considered a holy river both by Hindus and Buddhists. A number of Hindu temples are located on the banks of this river.

The importance of Bagmati also lies in the fact that Hindus are cremated on the banks of this holy river, and Kirants are buried in the hills by its side. According to the Nepalese Hindu tradition, the dead body must be dipped three times into the Bagmati river before cremation. The chief mourner (usually the first son) who lights the funeral pyre must take a holy river-water bath immediately after cremation. Many relatives who join the funeral procession also take bath in the Bagmati River or sprinkle the holy water on their bodies at the end of cremation. Bagmati River is thus considered purifying the people spiritually and physically."

rshrestha, dareco, bakes888 heeft deze opmerking als nuttig gemarkeerd

Critiques | Translate

rshrestha (270) 2008-01-04 12:36

Is it a close up from a bridge? Being familiar with the location (8years before), i am trying to find where you were standing when taking this picture....
Note is useful. Due to excessive pollution, people hesitate to take a dip now...no more holy dip. Pollution of Bagmati is worst example of human pollution to nature which is evident from picture. This river used to flow at the levels of foot steps....water level has decreased significantly.
Anyway nice picture of daily life and bitter reality.

bracasha75 (24591) 2008-01-04 12:54

Hello Geof
Great image and there are couple beautiful monkeys on this wall...
Great shot
TFS
Cheers,Braca

SteveH (8220) 2008-01-04 15:33

Hi Geof, I like the exploration of the decay of the building on the RHS. would have liked the bell in the bottom corner to be more prominent, perhaps at the expense of the other building - perhaps not possible from where you were able to shoot from. cheers, Steve

dareco (17136) 2008-01-05 23:13

I am having a BLAST in the Philippines, but if you saw the computer that I'm on right now you would LAUGH...however your picture still looks great!! Very interesting! TFS

bakes888 (18499) 2008-01-06 0:05

Hi Geof. Nice capture and informative note. The juxtaposition of the old buildings and brightly coloured ceremonial robes is a strong feature of this image. Nice work and thanks for sharing.
Cheers, Paul.

ysabaner (1069) 2008-01-08 13:30