Prashant Panjiar’s Amongst the Believers opens with a couple of minimalist photos that give a sense of the vastness of the landscape that is the riverbed on which the Kumbh mela is held. Gradually there is a build-up of pilgrims. We are led into the heart of India where the vast populace that has travelled miles to be able to take the holy dip begins to appear.
The lines formed by the various tones of grey that dissect the frame form a geometric pattern either by the flowing river or the flow of humanity on the many temporary bridges and streets laid out specifically for this event.
In one picture we see a dhoti floating in mid-air against the bright sky, held delicately in the hands of its silhouetted owner who forms the left side of the frame, whereas the right of the frame is occupied by a few men perched against the spread of the sky, where details of sparse cumulus clouds are just about visible.
We see the pouring in of rural India with endless rows of people carrying belongings in sacks on their head with the aim of seeking darshan and listening to the gyan on offer by the many holy men, and jostling their way in this sea of humanity to take a holy dip.
For a serious lover of photography, the ability to feel the photograph in the material form of a hard copy is far more satisfying than just looking at an image on a screen. The feeling of touch, texture and possession is so much more evocative to the senses than a mere virtual presence.
Serious photographers all over the world continue to publish their works in the form of photo-books, elevating their work to being not just image creation but storytelling and photo-art.
Prashant Panjiar is a veteran of this tradition. Once again, just as the mega event of the Maha Kumbh is unfolding at Allahabad (now Prayagraj), he has delved deeply into his archive of over two decades of photography that has involved four Kumbhs.
Amongst the Believers is designed to suit his images taken from a camera with a much wider field of view than the three-by-two format of the regular 35mm camera images we are used to seeing. Here the width of the image is almost three times its height, thus providing the viewer a far more sweeping view of the vistas.
This is no ordinary book. Encased in a box cover, its large panoramic format is designed such that you can remove its individual prints should you wish to frame them. The print is exclusively on a single side. The only criticism one might make of the format is that because of its size it is not easy to handle, and requires a proper viewing table to slowly enjoy each of its forty-eight black-and-white prints.
Panjiar’s gaze when translated into these images reminds us of the era when the 70mm screen had arrived in Indian cinema halls and we were mesmerised by the width of the frame that took us inside the story, making it an immersive experience. Here too we feel like actual visitors, as the perspective is similar to the experience of the normal human eye, without any distortions.
The panoramic always has multi-layered stories embedded for us to seek. A pair of children dressed as Ram and Sita are reciting into a microphone. Behind them, bisected by the curtain in mid frame, is another pair, which is either a part of the troupe or is listening as an audience. All this is manifested in multiple shades of grey that give the picture its rich tonal quality.
In another picture, a scooter occupies the entire foreground: an old Bajaj of a kind rarely seen now, loaded with its owners’ clothes. This evokes, through their absence, the people concerned, who are probably taking a dip in the river.
On the farther side of the frame sits a couple on the floor. The man, with his head covered in a white scarf, is reading some holy text, whereas a little behind him is a woman covered in a black shawl, peering over his shoulder. The ground beneath them is dotted all over with the texture of dry straws of grain locally known as puaal, used through the ages as an insulation material to stay warm in the cold of the open ground of the mela.
There is visual humour in the images as well. Given that the Kumbh is the largest human congregation on earth, commerce jostles with spirituality. Products primarily targeted at a rural audience are advertised in ingenious ways drawing the curiosity of the consumer.
Panjiar’s journalistic eye catches these vignettes, such as inflated human figures advertising a popular tooth powder and a group of huddled villagers gazing curiously at this spectacle.
Naga sadhus have been at the centre of the Kumbh since time immemorial. Theirs is the ascetic order that is accorded the right to take the first holy dip on the auspicious bathing days. They come in a procession representing their various akharas or sub-sects, marching with full gusto towards the Sangam to take the plunge. Some of them are aggressive and can cause harm to anyone who obstructs the way. Their cult has always held a mystique for the common man.
This book features around ten images dedicated exclusively to the Nagas showing them at their raw best. The photographs convey their frenzy and capture the energy they carry in their ash-covered naked bodies as they rush to splash into the river. The swirl of their dreadlocks that collects and then scatters water droplets is trapped in striking images that bring the book to its climax.
Photographing through the night using slow shutter speed that causes motion blur and lends many such pictures a texture that is grainy brings a touch of surrealism to the monochrome, giving it a painterly effect.
A glimpse into the heartland of India and into a segment of its people and their faith is what this book offers as a collector’s item. The genre known as street photography, which had its birth in the West thanks to famous names like Henri Cartier-Bresson, has grown from strength to strength in the Indian subcontinent and has drawn many photographers here.
Panjiar’s legacy of over 40 years of photographing life on the streets of India reaches its pinnacle with this offering.
In its recent avatars, the Kumbh mela has seen huge commercialisation and publicity that has brought to it a transnational flavor. In the ongoing mela, it is difficult to avoid urban or even foreign tourists in the frame on one hand and publicity hoardings of consumer items along with cut-outs of political figures on the other.
All this was absent in earlier decades and made the mela an event that showcased the spiritual heartland of central India. These images are more reminiscent of those times.
Prashant Panjiar is very sensitive at locating the event in its true context and carves each frame to extract the idea of the country in which he matured as a photojournalist.
Amongst the Believers: The Kumbh Mela at Prayag, Prashant Panjiar, Arthshila Trust.
Sohail Akbar is an associate professor of still photography at Jamia Millia Islamia’s AJK Mass Communication Research Centre in New Delhi.
