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?
This curiosity led him to visit Kumbh in 2019 and then again this year. The result is a photo exhibition Bhasmang: The Way of the Naga Sadhus at Travancore Palace in Delhi—a set of 34 photographs that try to offer a glimpse into the world of the Nagas. In one image, Naga Baba Bhupinder Giri—the same Sadhu Singh met in 2013—stands atop a boat wearing a radiant baghambar (tiger print) and carrying a large trishul in his hands
Singh was invited in 2019 to live in the Juna Akhara tent complex and to photograph the Naga Sadhus in their esoteric world. Spending almost 15 days on site, Singh did become a part of that world. “I was no longer a media person but a man curious and interested about their world. They could see that and so, their openness and accessibility allowed me to photograph them as they are. Which is why, even though these are posed images, they reflect a certain intimacy,” he says, adding that a photograph is a by-product of such investment. “My relationship with them, my conversations with them—that was important. The photography happened later,” he shares.
Singh rues the current environment where mics and cameras are often thrust into the faces of Naga Sadhus and questions that barely scratch the surface are asked to make reels and bytes to go viral online. “There is no story and there is no purpose to educate,” he says. The Naga Sadhus, he explains, are not seeking attention. On the contrary, they have renounced worldly matters and performed their own last rites. “There is a term for this attitude; ‘prassidhi parang mukh’, which essentially means to turn your face away from fame,” he states.
Starting his career in 1995, Singh confesses that spirituality is one of his driving interests. “My core interest is in the spiritual aspect of religions, including Sufism, Sikhism and Zen philosophy. These are many paths to the absolute truth, like piecing a jigsaw puzzle together,” he states. In 2004, he was awarded the prestigious Charles Wallace India Trust Award in photography. From 2016 to 2023, his pictures earned five Gold Awards at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards. His works are part of the permanent collections at the Essl Museum of Contemporary Art in Vienna, the Nirankari Museum of Faith in Delhi, and several private collections.
Starting from 2002, Singh has exhibited in group shows as well as solo. This particular exhibition is happening after 14 years of no show. But the burly bearded shutterbug with searching eyes is not done. He is working on a book which will contain many more images of Naga Sadhus and research on their way of life. “It started as a picture book but I thought it was important to use this access and information I have and turn them into a book about the Naga Sadhus which would be informative,” he states. An arcane, secretive world thrown open to be witnessed by all is a blessing in itself.