Sinuous Hair

On his book “The Ganges”, Raghubir Singh praises the river.

Ganges is not a river, it is an aspect of the divine.

After leaving India, Raghubir Singh has visited Ganges many times. He was raised to appreciate Ganga, which is the name of the river among Indian people. When he was a child, her mother taught him the significance of the Ganges; it is a goddess. She read aloud about the river from the pages of Ramayana, Sanskrit epic known throughout Southeast Asia. Image of the river flowing through the celestial world and the terrestrial world ending to the nether world inhabited by semi-divine water spirits – the sea – formed in the mind of a child.

Mother’s lifelong desire was to make a pilgrimage to the river’s source, and after many years of planning and anticipating, she finally accomplished the six-week journey. Visiting the roots of the river at the Gangotri glacier on Himalayan Range, near the border of China, made a lasting impression on her. 35 years have passed and she still fills with joy recalling the trip and her first plunge into the cold, cleansing waters. On returning, she carried urns of sacred Ganges water with her.

Mother’s passion was contagious and Raghubir became obsessed with Ganges as well. He started to photograph the river, its people, cultures and traditions alongside its way. His earliest book, “Ganga: Sacred River”, was published in 1974 and with his other 11 books, is filled with various photographs depicting the unique ceremonies and profound Hinduism of Indian people.

Up to unreachable mountain tops high on the Himalayas, ancient Hindus created a world populated by gods and goddesses. Ganga is one of them, flowing through the paradise of Siva, down his sinuous hair. In major branch of Hinduism, Siva is the God of Gods, Lord of The Universe, Lord of Everything, both the Creator and the Destroyer. Ganga is the messenger and a servant for Siva. She carries the power of Siva to the Hindu world, touching Indian people physically, creating, sustaining life and - during monsoon periods - raging and bringing destruction with furious floods.