Redemption ~ Annual festival of Kodungalloor Bhagavathy Temple
These photographs taken at Kodungallur Temple, Kerala during the annual “Bharani” festival. Thousands of oracles, both men and women from different tribes come there wielding swords, clad in red costumes, singing and going around the temple.
Legend is that Hindu Goddess Kaali after defeating and Killing Darikan (an immensely powerful and arrogant demon) was still angry. To make her feel better, “Bhoothaganas”- her soldiers sung songs and danced. Now yearly devotees gather and sing to appease the goddess and also seek redemption and unburden their sins.
To invoke goddess Kaali, the ecstatic devotees sing wielding swords. All the Oracles (the mediator between God and devotees) are in a trance due to deep devotion to the goddess.
This is the most challenging photograph I have taken during the ceremony. There is a huge space constraint as thousands of devotes throng the temple during this festival. The oracles, who are in a trance due to devotion stand in front of the sanctum sanctorum with swords in their hands. I wanted to capture their emotions from close in low angle and managed to sit just in front of them.
Due to the huge crowd, people were nudging each other and I could hardly move. My concentration was on getting the right frame but at that time one of the oracles moved forward with his sword. It was really risky as there are many oracles moving with swords. This particular oracle in the photograph wielded the sword, where I was sitting at least thrice. The challenge here was to get the right shot without being hurt.
Since the space was very restricted, I used my wide angle lense here. My Tamron 10-24 Di II performed pretty well to get the focus along with my Canon 60D. Even though it was a sunny day, the specific area was less in light because of the huge crowd. Thus I kept the ISO range between 600 and 700 with shutterspeed of 1/400s and with a maximum aperture value with f/3.5
[lightgrey_box]Kodungallur Bhagavthy temple, Kerala, India [/lightgrey_box]
Tina Schell
September 9, 2017Amazing colors and action Syam!
Syam
September 10, 2017Thank you Tina 🙂
rabirius
September 10, 2017Amazing and interesting.
Syam
September 11, 2017Thank you Rabirius 🙂
joshi daniel
September 26, 2017so much action 🙂
Syam
September 30, 2017Thank you Joshi 🙂 You know how intense packed is the ritual!
Maniparna Sengupta Majumder
November 16, 2017So much colour and vibrant pictures! The oracles look quite intimidating. Great pictures… 🙂
Syam
November 19, 2017Thank you so much 🙂
Bama
November 28, 2017What a vibrant and colorful, if slightly daunting, festival! And you captured its energy really well!
Syam
November 28, 2017Thank you so much Bama 🙂
Lisa Dorenfest
February 18, 2018Magnificent footage. A color explosion captured beautifully.
Syam
February 18, 2018Thank you 🙂
Subhasree
August 23, 2018Oh my God! These pictures are giving me chills !
To capture these craziness must have been a real tough job !!
Syam
August 31, 2018Thank you Subhasree. Yes the ritual is very unique.