Sadhus : The Seekers of Salvation

Contents: 1. Sadhus. 2. The path to salvation. 3. The supreme pantheon. 4. The earthly order of saints. 5. Sadhvis: the women Sadhus. 6. Living with dead. 7. The Kumbh: a pitcher of nectar a sea of faith. 8.  The Sadhus today, tomorrow and forever. Glossary.

Sadhus : The Seekers of Salvation is a unique study of the esoteric monastic orders inspired by one of the oldest surviving religious traditions in the world. India, perhaps, has the largest number of monks and ascetics subscribing to an ancient religio-philosophic system, Vedic Hinduism, which dates back to 3000 years ago.

This pictorial book is an attempt to study the practices and the colorful symbolism of holy men who believe that human salvation lies only in renouncing the temptations of the materialistic world.

Many of the photographs in this volume focus on aspects of the Sadhu\'s life which have never before been seen by outsiders. These became possible only because of long association of Rajesh Bedi, the photographer and his father Late Shri Ramesh Bedi,  the author with Sadhus and Sannyasis. They understood their concern and dismay at being misrepresented in the world outside India. The trust and confidence that many Sadhus and Sannyasis reposed in both of them made possible access to their little known traditions and rituals.

Sadhus: The Seekers of Salvation offers in great detail the very first glimpse of women Sadhavies and practicing Aghori ascetics, the most rarely seen of all the Indian Sannyasis and Sadhus. The Aghoris follow a most demanding code of penance, enjoined by their faith to live only at the cremation grounds and to eat and drink from a mendicant\'s bowl made out of human skull.

India\'s colorful and captivating monastic orders have been photographed in intimate detail, after extensive coverage by Rajesh Bedi of several Kumbh Melas, the great Hindu bathing fairs held in 12-yearly cycles at four different centers of pilgrimage.

The text by Late Shri Ramesh Bedi elucidates the origins and the practices of the Vedic Hindu sects in a comprehensive introduction to the captivating seemingly exotic, but little known world of the Indian Sadhu. He weaves together the threads of mythology with the working philosophy of the principal Hindu sects, in an endeavor to both document and analyze the rituals and the beliefs of holy men who have chosen a life beyond death.