 |
| Photo © Devansh Jhaveri-All Rights Reserved |
I'm glad to showcase more work by Devansh Jhaveri on this blog, and I chose his gallery titled Maatam-A Mourning which features monochromatic photographs of a religious ritual performed by Shi'a Muslims.
I'm uncertain as to where these photographs were taken, although I suspect they could have been during the Maatam ritual in Hyderabad, the capital of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, and where hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslims live.
The ritual takes place on the day of Ashura; the tenth day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar, and is commemorated by Shi'a Muslims as a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad at the battle of Karbala.
Despite various religious proclamations by Shi'a clerics forbidding the ritualistic practices of self flagellation, and cutting the body with razors or knives, some men still perform Maatam by slashing themselves with chains known as zanjeer or swords and allow their blood to run freely.
Devansh Jhaveri is no stranger to The Travel Photographer's blog, having won the coveted title of The Travel Photographer blog's Travel Photographer of 2012. He has many more photographic styles to be very proud of. He also specializes in weddings, fashion, documentary, dance, and portraiture.
