From Ashes to Ashes by the River

A photo exhibition compiles images of Naga Sadhus at many Kumbh Melas as a record of the mysterious lives of a fiercely private sect

- DEEPALI DHINGRA

Bandeep Singh and his camera visited the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj for the first time in 2013. The ace photographer went, saw and shared, as an artist interested in witnessing and capturing images of the largest religious gathering on earth. It was there he had "a chance encounter with a beautiful Naga Baba". Singh recalls the young man, more than six feet tall and stark naked, talking casually on the phone. "I was stunned. How can somebody be like this? He was so easy with his nudity. I was completely drawn by it. It was a magnetic pull," he recalls. Singh wasn't interested in just pulling out his camera and taking a quick picture. He had questions in his mind—who are the Naga Sadhus? Why are they like this?