Sadhus, saints and seers have played an important role in Hindu society for some thousands of years. Their morning ritual includes offering water and prayers to the rising sun and engaging in physical exercise. They seek salvation, moksha, which means liberation from all worldly pleasures and attachment. Some sadhus cover their body with ash to keep themselves pure and undefiled.

Most sadhus follow one or other of the two great gods of Hinduism, Vishnu and Shiva. Vishnu is worshipped as the preserver of the universe. Devotees of Vishnu can be identified by the vertical lines on their forehead, often in the shape of a U with a crimson line in the centre. His cult is strongest in northern and central India.

Shiva has the power to destroy the universe and therefore has to be placated. His followers are identified by the horizontal lines on their forehead, often with a central dot representing a third eye in South India and along the Himalayan foothills it is Shiva Lord of yogis who is all-powerful here at Rishikesh where the Ganges or the Ganga breaks out from the Himalayas is the great training center for India's holy men the Kailasha ashram renowned for keeping to the old Shiva traditions where many holy men have been initiated for centuries. Their first act is to prepare new robes, dyeing them a saffron color, signifying the removal of all passions. Only those who endure the rigors of their period of testing will be accepted.

These initiates come from all over India and from all walks of life. Two days before their initiation ceremony, the candidates are taken into the forest to select the staff, the symbol of their vocation. Their final initiation takes place on the auspicious night of Shivaratri, one of the great Hindu festivals. For this they will collect special plants and twigs to be offered in the sacrificial fire at the time of initiation.

The The kale tree is considered auspicious by Hindus. Its triple leaves resemble the trident which is symbolic of Shiva. The leaves are collected and offered in the temple on the day of the festival. Hair and beard are considered to be worldly ornaments.

On the day of initiation, the candidates assemble on the grounds of the ashram and submit to the barber's shears. Do you want to keep it or not? I'll keep it when it's small. Not all the hair is removed, a few strands are saved.

This top knot, called the choti, will be cut off by the guru in the last stages of initiation. It will mark the candidate's symbolic death and rebirth as a sannyasi. afterwards the initiates gather together to sing hymns in praise of god the acharya guru who will be their religious instructor now leads them through the next stage of initiation they walk in procession down to the banks of the ganga each one carrying his One by one they prostrate themselves before the Guru seeking his blessing. They purify themselves in the ice-cold water and offer their prayers to the sun. to the sun. The new life is symbolized by the putting on of new robes.

The old clothes are cast away. As the old garments float away, so does the past life of each individual. While a Brahman priest chants mantras, the initiates offer an oblation usually associated with funeral rites. The whole ceremony is under the direction of the Acharya Guru.

Each initiate is then given wheat flour and water, out of which he kneads balls of dough. These, with other gifts of food, he offers with prayers to the souls of his ancestors. He is, in effect, performing his own funeral rites, signifying his death as a worldly creature and his rebirth into a spiritual life. Having performed these rituals during his initiation the sadhu will require no further funeral rites at the time of his death.

Later that night the final ceremonies will be performed the initiation will be complete. When a holy man dies the event attracts great crowds of devotees. A few miles downstream from Rishikesh is the town of Haridwar, where 8,000 people have come to pay their last respects to their guru. Many have travelled over 200 miles to the funeral.

The guru's body is washed and covered with incense. Ashes and petals are sprinkled on his forehead. On a bier decorated with flowers, he's carried down to the bank of the river. chanting Swamiji lives his devotees follow their guru down to the water's edge they regard their holy man as a saint and therefore already immortal after death most Hindus are cremated and their ashes thrown into a river but the bodies of holy men can either be buried or immersed in a river without cremation the body draped in a saffron robe will first be placed in a wooden coffin which will be weighted inside with stones and pushed into the river. No further ceremony is necessary.

Sringari, a monastic center in South India, is one of four centers of learning founded in the 8th century AD by Adi Shankaracharya. In the 14th century, his followers built this temple in the shape of a chariot and dedicated it to Saraswati, the goddess of learning. Ever since the establishment of the monastery, the Vedas, the ancient Hindu scriptures have been studied here. The temple has some of the richest and most graceful sculpture and architecture in all India.

The present head of Sringare is Jagatguru Abhinava Vidyatirtha. teachers are needed for guiding students so sadhus are needed to teach mankind sadhus and saints are required to guide people in the right direction in this changing world so that they are not misled the Jagat Guru's influence on social and political events is considerable politicians wealthy industrialists and peasants all come to get his blessing and his advice various ways of achieving enlightenment or nirvana Shaivas like these students at the Kailasha ashram follow the path of wisdom and divine knowledge most Shaiva sadhus are well educated the acharya guru leads a class in Vedanta a system of Indian philosophy that dates back over 2,000 years the guru is expounding the word of God. To his disciples, he is the mouthpiece of God. This is not mere instruction, it's the imparting of spiritual blessing. The class ends with a hymn in praise of Shiva, in which his many names are chanted, Mahadeva, As they depart, each student performs an act of devotion to his guru.

Another path to enlightenment is that of concentration and meditation, the practice of yoga. The Nagas, the naked sadhus, show Hinduism in its most extreme active form. They make up the militant wing of India's holy men. Their sect was formed at a time when Hinduism was under threat from foreign invaders.

Nagas are trained at gymnastic centres called akhadas. These centres are spread all over India. In Rishikesh there are a number of hospices which offer free food and shelter to sadhus on pilgrimage. They were founded and are supported by donations from wealthy devotees.

Each morning as many as three thousand sadhus gather outside the kitchen for their main meal of the day, usually chapattis and lentil soup. If some extra money has been donated, there may also be vegetables and some sweets. The high caste sattus are served food cooked in a separate kitchen. sattus can be easily recognized by the staff or danda they always carry hence the name dundee Swami the staff is made of bamboo with an axe shaped top a weapon which is symbolic of Shiva when a dundee Swami performs his daily ritual of prayers he makes sure that the top of his staff, the divine end, never comes into direct contact with the ground. Throughout the centuries wealthy rulers have honored holy men by the donation of land and buildings.

Most of the city of Haridwar belongs to two sadhu organizations or akhadas who have benefited from such gifts. These old documents list the villages and land given over to this akhada by the Sikh rulers of the Punjab. The agricultural land owned by the Akhadas is rented out or farmed by hired labourers using modern farming machinery. Here the cash crop is sugarcane.

The sugarcane is harvested, stripped and crushed. Juice from the sugarcane is boiled into liquid molasses and eventually turned into to sugar. Such commercial ventures finance many charities. Shaivas in particular devote much time to such community service.

The Divine Life Society in Rishikesh has taken up the cause of leprosy patients. When Swami Chidananda first came to Rishikesh, he was horrified to find the roads leading to the ashram lined with leprosy sufferers. I found, to my horror and surprise, that there were more than 150 leprosy patients. They were eking out their livelihood by begging.

They lined up on both sides of the road upon a one and a half mile stretch right up from the beginning of Munikireti till Lakshmanjula. And they were in a very pitiful condition, exposed to the inclemencies of weather through the 12 months, sun, rain, heat, dust and all that. And so besides leprosy, they had all sorts of general diseases also. And I began to try to see what I could do. and luckily Gurudev, my holy master, put me in charge of the ashram dispensary and I began to take interest in the treatment and I received immense encouragement from my master.

He said, go ahead, it's wonderful, I think you are doing. Swami Chidananda talks to them about the importance of self-respect. peace rests in the soul he tells them the soul is the inner self which fire cannot burn water cannot wet air cannot dry The colony which has been set up for them is supplied weekly with food by the ashram. the ashram support they now run their own handicraft center a daily clinic ensures that the patients get all the medical treatment and drugs that their condition requires sadhus traveling on an elephant given to them by the former ruler of a princely state are on a pilgrimage they gather arms in the villages which they pass through their destination is the most important festival in India, the Kumbha Mela. On this occasion it's being held in Prayag, the ancient name for Allahabad. The festival is held every 12 years and attracts pilgrims from all over India.

These sadhus will be on the road for many weeks. According to legend, there was a time when the gods and demons churned up the ocean, throwing up many treasures and precious objects. One of the gods, the Lord Dhanvantari, the divine healer, emerged carrying the Amrut Kumba, the pot of nectar. Immediately the demons tried to seize the Kumba, but the gods defended it, triumphed, and carried it to heaven.

On their journey they rested at four places, Nashik, Udjain, Prayag, and Haridwar, sites that have since become places of pilgrimage. On this occasion the Mela at Prayag will be particularly blessed. Such Such an auspicious conjunction of the planets hasn't occurred for 144 years. This will be the largest single crowd ever gathered in one place.

The holy men begin to arrive with great pomp and style. These are Shaivas, the crowd lined up on the procession route to watch them go by. As the numbers grow, loudspeakers blast instructions to the crowd to keep well back. Each sect of sadhus enters the festival area in big processions.

The important holy men are born in silver and gold palanquins on elephants. They advance like Maharajas receiving the homage of the crowd. The status of each group is reflected in the number of elephants and horses and the quality of the trappings. The ground they tread becomes holy and dust from their footprints becomes a precious possession.

Elaborate preparations have been in hand for many weeks. For a brief period, more than 12 million people will be crammed into the one area. Within a few days, a vast new township of tents springs up besides the waters of the Ganga and the Yamuna. The pilgrims will come by air, rail, road and boat, on bullock cart and on foot.

8,000 policemen will be brought in to maintain law and order. Ten field hospitals will deal with accidents and sickness. Thirty-three inoculation centers will ensure that every visitor is vaccinated against cholera. Each group of sadhus and their followers have been allotted a space in the 3,000 acres taken over for the festival.

In the Vaishnava camp, devotions are led by two men chanting from the Ramayana, an epic poem which tells the tale of the good Prince Rama triumphing over the evil Prince Ravana. the chanting is taken up by their brahman congregation this sadhu balances on one leg while he chants his prayers to the clicking of his rosary beads by doing so he hopes to gain the merit of divine approval. This holy man's marking identifies him as a member of a cult which devotes itself to Sita, the consort of Rama. It's believed that Sita applied a vermilion mark to the forehead of their founder saint. They copy this act by whitening their faces with sandalwood paste and marking their foreheads with vermilion.

This is Kadeshwari Baba, who has taken a vow to standing for several years thereby acquiring great sanctity both legs are badly swollen he sleeps bathes meditates and eats in this posture with the help of a hanging board the devotees crowd around to catch a glimpse of him and in return he blesses them and offers them sweets this man seeks merit by chanting prayers while standing on his head by contrast this guru is allowing a follower from his village to gain merit by giving him a traditional country massage in spite of the large numbers food is really no problem groups of sadhus prepare food for themselves and for their faithful devotees for whom the food is distributed free. On such festivals individual devotees often donate meals for thousands of their fellow pilgrims and for the sadhus. It's not surprising that in such a large gathering of holy men there will be some who are in the business of exploiting pilgrims.

The true sadhu doesn't need the gimmick of a parrot to collect his ill-gotten gain in those sex given to the path of devotion little emphasis is placed on education this boy is merely learning to chant the name of his God he's been put in the care of an elderly sadhu by his parents for the disciple the guru is a divine presence the disciple will obey his guru in all things and will turn to him for advice in all life's crises being in the presence of the guru means receiving grace and blessing non Hindus and foreigners are not made welcome at the Kumbha Mela this is very much a gathering of Hindus among the very few foreigners present are Americans from the Hare Krishna movement. Though founded by an Indian the movement is now mainly composed of foreigners. Vaishnava sadhus subject their bodies to extreme physical conditions in the belief that thereby they will achieve salvation.

For this they train their bodies so that they remain unaffected by the heat and cold hunger and thirst. Here they expose their bodies to the five fires fire from four directions and fire from the Sun and this at the hottest time of the day when the temperature rises to 45 degrees centigrade each sadhu sits in a circle of burning coals the size of the coals depends on the stage of his yogic achievement another holy man Devaraya Baba lives in a hut high up on a platform. He is believed to possess supernatural powers and therefore attracts a great deal of devotion. When he appears the devotees struggled to get near enough to him to receive his blessed food.

This Shaiva Sadhu has come to the Mela from the northern Himalayas. In accordance with the vow taken he has held up his arm in the air for so long that the muscles have atrophied and his nails have grown into talons. These other Nagas, many festivals in the past have been turned into battlefields by their fanatical violence. It is the day of the Kumbha Mela.

Already throughout the night and in spite of the heavy rain, the crowds have continued to cross the site down to the water's edge at the rate of 15,000 every minute. The holy men have the right to go down to the water at the most auspicious hour of the day the time being determined by the conjunction of the planets. Pilgrims stand aside as the sadhus proceed to the river. No one is allowed to cross their path.

To do so would be a most inauspicious act. Slowly the procession approaches the confluence of the waters. Each akara takes its turn to bathe. The loudspeakers urge them to keep moving and clear the way for the next group.

The mass of people wait patiently for the holy men to complete their rituals, then their turn will come. The heavy rain and the trampling of many millions of pairs of feet is making the ground at the water's edge slippery and dangerous. Police and soldiers bring pallets of straw to cover the mud to make it safer for the millions of pilgrims still to come. Now it's the turn of the ordinary pilgrims and their families to perform their rituals.

As part of their devotion they offer milk to the sacred river and water to the sun and light a lamp. Some of the sacred water will be carried home in pots for the benefit of those who couldn't make the journey to the Kumbh Mela. As dusk gathers the last weary pilgrims return from the river and prepare to depart back to their homes back to their ashrams though weary in body they are refreshed in spirit they have just participated in the greatest religious event in the history of mankind