Woven Souls
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Travelling Godmen are wanderers that travel from village to village,
restricting themselves to a particular geographical area (usually dictated by the language).
They sell spirituality and its benefits in different forms.
There is no one place in which they may be found - except the occasional
religious fair - and therefore it is a matter of 'luck' or 'chance'
(or of 'luck-by-chance' as said in the special form of indlish)
to come across these travelling mendicants.
The following pictures of 4 such encounters have been taken across 5 years in India - this should give the reader an idea of the rarity of finding these people.

All photographs copyright Jaina Mishra

This couple is part of a group seen in Maharashtra.
The women provide the sound effects with the drum that is 'rubbed' by a stick (not beaten),
while the men create a beat with the jhanjhars(bells) on their feet, and dance
in a trance like fashion as they whip themselves with the heavy rope.
They provide spiritual services through fortune telling
which usually contains a good dose of negativity,
but for a small fee paid in the form of faith and fanams, they offer to save your souls.
Note the beautiful colours and contrast of their dress and costume !

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These two travelling godmen were enountered in Goa,
a place they were exploring for the first time with the aim of spreading
'jan - jagruti' or enlightenment among the people.
They walk about in residential areas, early in the morning,
with castanet-like musical instruments singing bhajans or hymns
in deep captivating voices that filled up the neighbourhood with
enchantment !! Their hymns are all devoted to Krishna / Vasudev and they
call themselves Vasudeva Janaa, hail from the Pandharpur area,
and have forsaken the 'householder' life to spread enlightenment.
Amazing experience to be woken up by their clear beautiful singing!

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These women, from Karnatka, are Shaivite worshippers of Yellamma,
whose portable deity they carry from village to village and receive money from people
as offerings to the goddess and her son.
Language, unfortunately became a barrier in finding out more about this group.
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This photoessay "hopefully" isn't complete yet....
am looking forward to experiencing and sharing more
of these intriguing & hard-to-find groups of people ...

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Am pleased to report that I came across another pair of Vasudeva Jana in Bombay in late 2009..... here are the pictures

Stopping a passer-by to bless him & tell him his horoscope - for a small donation

Note that he has his footwear off - as he performs this holy task of conveying god's will

All photographs copyright Jaina Mishra.
If you would like to purchase large format copies please write to jaina@wovensouls.com

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