Wednesday, 23 October 2013  POV: Sadhus, Charlatans or Not?
Photos © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved  Yesterday's post
prompts me to elaborate a bit more on the question whether the
sadhus in India (and Nepal) are charlatans or a genuine
aesthetics.  From my numerous travels in India over the past 10+
years, and from having met innumerable sadhus during my
assignments and photographic expeditions, I'm reasonably
comfortable in asserting that most of them are a cross between
homeless charlatans and spiritual ascetics. The more difficult
question is whether they became ascetics because of poverty or
because of some form of inherent spirituality. Charlatanism is
an integral part of many of them, but they may have resorted to
this activity because of need.  With their tilak markings, and
their orange cloths, they are certainly photogenic and some of
them exploit their appearance to coax money from gullible (and
sometimes, not-so-gullible) tourists. Others are more
imaginative, and develop an aura of spiritual