In this photograph, a disciple (chela) pays homage to his guru, who in turn gives his blessing. The relationship between guru and student begins as one of obedience and servitude. Once the disciple is deemed fit for the ascetic life, he will be given initial instructions and prepared for initiation. Though they often differ between sects, initiations all center round the idea of rebirth: the chela severs all ties with his earthly life, symbolically dying as a human and then is reborn into the divine life. His guru gives the initiate a new name reflective of his new holy family and status, imparts a powerful, personal mantra. The chela serves and worships his guru as god-incarnate, as in this photograph, whereas the guru takes full responsibility for his disciple’s spiritual education and earthly life, including his bad karma. Large festivals like the Kumbh Mela often provide a chance for students to meet their teachers in order to check in and receive further instructions. A young disciple will travel and study with his teacher for years.

This ash-covered sadhu, a member of the Naga sub-sect, holds up his right hand in the abhaya mudra, which expresses “have no fear” and grants a blessing. Nudity is the ultimate expression of asceticism, for it represents an absolute renunciation of the material world and its attachments, as well as a complete transcendence of sexuality and the sensual body. Remaining nude or semi-nude in all weather conditions is considered a severe austerity and an emulation of Shiva, who himself is digambara or “sky clad.” Naked ascetics seem to have been ubiquitous before British rule, but nowadays only fully initiated Shaiva Nagas can go nude and typically only for special occasions. Both Shaivas and Vaishnavas cover themselves in sacred ashes, or vibhuti, like this Naga Baba. Vibhuti is usually taken from the sadhu’s own sacred fire, that of a temple or, most potently, cremation fires. Considered the prasad, or “food,” from the god of Fire, the vibhuti represents to the sadhu the conquering of death and the destruction of his karma in the fire of austerity.

By looking into the eyes of eight-six-year-old Vaishnava, Hanuman Das, the social function of the sadhu as a charismatic guru, compassionate transmitter of spiritual energy and earthly representative of the divine is plainly evident. Like other magnetic sadhus, Hanuman Das likely receives offerings, which he either keeps, sacrifices to his deity, or returns to the devotees as blessed prasad, “food from the gods.” Just as viewing a consecrated image of a Hindu deity is referred to as darshan, or a returned divine gaze, so too do sadhus allow themselves to be looked at as a means of transmitting their spiritual energy to admiring devotees. As a renunciant, the sadhu is the exemplar of religious practice and closest to the divine, therefore he is capable of giving blessings and spiritual instructions. Darshan may even be given through the photograph of a sadhu. Hanuman Das sits atop a spotted deerskin—now a substitute for endangered tigers and lions—which is not only a symbol of power, but also is thought to prevent the energy accumulated during meditation from escaping into the earth.

Mundane motives often mix with spiritual aspirations when a person decides to join the brotherhood of sadhus. Asceticism not only offers a life devoted entirely to religious study and the possibility of spiritual attainment, but also one that is free from the social bonds of family and the restrictions of caste. Boys in early adolescence, like the young sadhus in this photograph, can be adventurous in their abandonment or simply practical, having few other options if they are orphaned or impoverished. These two young Vaishnavas with colorful tilaka perhaps chose the life of a sadhu over that of a lower caste member, or a family tragedy may have forced them into this role. Regardless, they are better provided for and will have more opportunities than many of the poor and homeless in South Asia. Renouncing his birth family for one of the Hindu gods, a young sadhu adopts as his new family Vishnu, Brahma or Shiva as well as his guru and brother sadhus.

Bathing is the first ritual a sadhu must perform every day, not only to cleanse the body but to purify the soul in order to prepare for subsequent ritual and ascetic practices. Ideally bathing should be done in a sacred river such as the Ganges, where the sadhu dips three times while uttering mantras and then invokes deities and his guru with water held in his joined hands. During the Kumbh Mela festival, millions of people make pilgrimage to different sites along the Ganges where it is said that the nectar of immortality was spilled on these sites during an ancient battle between the gods and the demons. Bathing at these auspicious moments washes away sins and purify the soul, but there is a hierarchy of bathers and auspicious bathing days. The most important are the days for the shahisnan, “royal bath”, in which the sadhus, beginning with the Nagas, go in procession to the river, preceding the lay people and intensifying the sanctity of the holy river water.

Though the vast majority of sadhus are men—their various communities are frequently referred to as brotherhoods—women too renounce the worldly life in favor of one dedicated to spiritual practice. Sadhvis, like the Vishnu devotee in this portrait, typically enter the ascetic life when they are older, usually widowed or still unmarried. Traditionally, widows have been marginalized in Hindu society, the legacy of an ancient belief in the deeply inauspicious character of a woman who’s lost her husband; asceticism offers an alternative to this stigma. Not all sects accept women, while a few are composed entirely of sadhvis, and history is marked by a number of important woman-saints. However, women do occupy a lower position in the spiritual hierarchy.

Sadhus wishing to expedite the process of enlightenment may choose to perform severe austerities and mortifications. Even at age sixty-six, Pagalinanda Aghori Baba can demonstrate the Naga practice of “penis yoga,” which is based on the complete transcendence of sexual impulses. After a preliminary, nine-year period of self-imposed celibacy, the yogi is truly initiated during a ritual in which certain nerves of the penis are broken, enabling him to "lift" rocks weighing over one hundred pounds. However, the initiation ceremony for this practice makes it highly unlikely he will ever have another erection. It is essential for the ascetic to sublimate and control all desire, especially sexual, in order to maintain his spiritual power. An alternative method frequently employed to aid in the control of passion is the use of chastity belts, either wooden or metal. Such extreme practices are not only performed to control desire, but also to eliminate other spiritual obstacles: the pleasure of eating is destroyed by only drinking milk and attachment to the body is severed by standing for twelve years.

Vaishnava sadhus like the two brothers in this photograph are identified by their vertical tilaka consisting of three parts: two yellow or white arcs form a U-shape from the bridge of the nose to the hairline and a red dot or line fills in the center. Different Vaishnava sects reinterpret this basic form, resulting in a variety of distinctive tilakas and symbolic meaning. These two sadhus bear a swath of red set off by yellow patterning symbolic of the bow that Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, used to slay the demon Ravana and to save his wife Sita in the Hindu Ramayana epic. The Tengal Vaishnavas draw a trident, while the Badgals and Acharis interpret their tilaka as the white sole of Vishnu’s right foot on a lotus with the red center representing Lakshmi. Red pigment made from turmeric called “the powder of Shri”, referring to Vishnu’s consort, and white or yellow clay called gopi-chandana, a type of sandalwood that comes from a sacred Vishnu site, are used by Vaishnava sadhus to create their tilaka decorations.

While some sadhus value a more energetic and impressionistic approach to tilaka, others value precision and complexity in their body art, such as the ascetic pictured here, who has written sacred text, likely mantra or hymn, across his face. This unique tilaka might be an act of devotion to his tutelary deity, offering a prayer to Vishnu as part of his daily activities. However, painting the efficacious syllables of an esoteric mantra on the body might suggest more magical motivations. Mantras have myriad meanings and uses, both public and secret, including magical incantations for healing, invocations requesting the presence of a god, primordial sounds of Creation and the Absolute, and repetative prayer aimed at focusing the mind on a deity. During a sadhu’s initiation, his guru imparts to him a powerful, personal mantra, which is never spoken aloud. This mantra established the psychic bond between teacher and student, through which guidance may be asked for and issued.

Aside from a life of simplicity and focus on the Divine, many sadhus engage in a diverse array of practices both internal and external in order to attain higher states of awareness and consciousness. This sadhu has chosen Hatha yoga and shows off the results—a well-disciplined, strong body—while holding the kukkuta asana, or cock pose. Although Hatha yoga is partially physical in nature, there are many internal, mental practices that accompany the outer, physical postures. Through the united control of body and mind, the sadhu prepares for deeper, more advanced meditation. Hatha yoga also helps the ascetic with sexual control and sublimation: yogic technique allows the semen to be retained, forced upward and finally converted into shakti, the divine female power that is the basis of all creation.

Red, orange, saffron, ochre and pink—the colors of fire, the sun, sacrificial blood and the earth—are the shades preferred by Shaivas are most commonly recognized by their distinctive tilaka, composed of three horizontal lines across their foreheads made with sandalwood, other yellow or orange pigments or ashes from the sacred fire (vibhuti). The three lines are associated with Shiva’s iconic trident, symbolizing the oneness of the Hindu trinity of Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu. Often a red or black dot, the bindu, representing either the “void” or Shiva’s powerful third eye, is incorporated into Shaiva tilaka, as this sadhu’s forehead decoration displays. Emulating the model of Shiva, Lord of Yogis, this Shaiva sadhu wears his hair in matted locks (jata) and dons multiple strands of rudraksh-bead rosaries (malas), used primarily to count mantra recitations and as a kind of amulet. Shiva’s jata control the force of the River Ganges as it falls from heaven and serve as the seat of his yogic powers; to sadhus the locks are a symbol of virility and supernatural power.

A sadhu’s body is a display of his ascetic identity: his clothes or nudity separate him from the populace, while his painted markings, called tilaka, indicate his divine focus of devotion. Ranging from a simple daub of color to complex patterns involving the entire face and other body parts, basic tilaka designs mark a sadhu's religious and sectarian affiliations but may incorporate elaborate, individual variations. The vertical design of this sadhu's tilaka shows him to be a Vaishnava, or follower of Vishnu, whose gentleness is reflected in his devotees and their clothing of white or yellow, the colors of purity and surrender. After a sadhu bathes to purify the body, he applies the tilaka while uttering mantras to sanctify his body, thus completing the ritual that transforms the body into a vessel worthy of receiving divine power and giving worship to God.

A group of sadhus engage in an ancient practice called the panch-agni-tapasya, or five fire austerity, in this photograph. During this austerity, the ascetic surrounds himself with four cow dung fires, taking the sun as the fifth, repeatedly chants name of his chosen deity with the aid of a mala, hidden under a cloth. Over a cycle of eighteen years, the sadhu increases the number of fires to a full ring of “innumerable” fires that is never completely closed, allowing the God to enter. In the final stage, a pot of burning cow dung is held on the sadhu’s head. Usually practiced during the height of summer heat, the sadhu’s ability to remain focused on his chosen mantra and deity is severely tested. The intention of this ritual is for the sadhu to symbolically sacrifice himself to the fire, ultimately becoming an offering to God. This austerity is connected to the small sacred fire (dhuni) that many sadhus keep as the focal point of all daily worship rituals and religious practices, and a potent symbol of the ascetic’s self-sacrifice, rebirth from ashes, and the ash-covered Shiva.

Shiva is a god of countless manifestations and a variety of forms, each famed for certain attributes, deeds and powers, and the Shaiva sadhus seek to emulate the image of the deity outwardly, while working toward internalizing the god’s being and knowledge through ritual and spiritual practice. On the surface, this sadhu adopts the characteristics of Shiva: he sanctifies the body with sacred ash tilaka, wears his hair in matted locks to evoke yogic power, and carries the god’s iconic trident (trishul), the weapon that connects heaven and earth. On a deeper level, however, the sadhu performs all daily activities, both sacred and mundane, as rituals dedicated to the Divine, thus transforming his whole existence into holiness. The sadhu seeks to be like Shiva and finally be in complete union with him. Because the sadhus imitate the gods in appearance and behavior, they are perceived and worshiped as living idols with the ability to accumulate and channel spiritual energy to the laity.

From ancient times, a tradition of militancy has existed within Hindu asceticism. At first scattered and unorganised, armed ascetics were assembled and recruited from lower castes to form a system of regiments called akharas in response to the aggressive Muslim invasions of the early thirteenth century. Though these were centers of military rather than religious training, many of these warrior sadhus, who are called Naga sannyasis or “naked renouncers,” continued to perform austerities and yogic practices as they do today. This fierce-looking sadhu from a Shaivite akhara displays his sword and nag-phani, or serpent horn that is related to Shiva’s intimate companion, the cobra. Although Nagas no longer engage in actual battles, they still proudly wield their weapons as symbols of their spiritual power, but will not hesitate to use them if pressed.

The Aghori sub-sect of Shaivas mostly closely resembles one of the earliest organized groups of Hindu ascetics, the Kapalikas or “bearers of skulls”, who originated in the ninth or tenth century. Like the modern-day Aghori, Kapalikas worshipped the terrifying manifestation of Shiva, Bhairava, and were known to perform human sacrifice, which often involved offering their own flesh to the deity in acts of self-mutilation and even ritual suicide. Though these extreme practices have evolved into symbolic acts today, the Aghori still utilize human skulls, as seen in this photograph. Drinking out of a skullcup (kapala) is a magical act in which the sadhu partakes of the deceased’s life-force, controlling it with the use of mantras. The skull also serves as a constant reminder of human mortality and the necessity of conquering the duality of life and death. Because of their taboo behavior, Aghori ascetics remain on the furthest fringes of Hindu society. They drink alcohol, eat meat, and use obscene language, transgressions that defy conventional Hindu rules of purity and pollution and thus transcend all dualities in the most overt and concrete manner.

Although Hindu religious texts as well as sadhus themselves hold varying opinions about drug use as a spiritual practice, it is important to many sadhus, including the one pictured here. He is most likely smoking a mixture of tobacco and hashish, or charas, in a straight clay pipe called a chilam. Because the god Shiva is admired for his ability to transmute poisonous substances into harmless or beneficial elements, drug use is seen by many to be an important spiritual practice unto itself. Shiva is invoked before the first puff and the intoxicating properties are felt to be the blessings of Shiva, Lord of Charas, and a means of attaining divine wisdom and partaking in Shiva’s ecstasy. As a final gesture of devotion, a sadhu may mark his forhead with chilam ash. While smoking itself is considered an austerity demonstrating non-attachment to the body, it also is a communal ritual between sadhus and devotees.

Ektara are commonly used in kirtan chanting by sadhus, which is a Hindu devotional practice of singing the divine names and mantras in an ecstatic call and response format.