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Masan Holi in Beneras
In Varanasi at the edge of the burning ghats of Manikarnika Ghat and Harischandra Ghat, Holi takes a form like nowhere else. The celebration here does not take place with bright gulal, but the ash of funerals. Masan Holi is that ritual where life and death stand next to each other without a flinch.
Aghori and Shaiva sadhus smother their bodies and faces in sacred ash dancing to the beats of damru and chanting the name of Shiva. The environment is brutal, intense, and almost surreal. The celebration rolls on as flames keep rising from the pyres.
For onlookers, the scene is both unsettling and deeply philosophical. In the city that believes death is freedom, Masan Holi reminds us that life is transient, and that is perhaps why it ought to be celebrated, even amid the flames of the funeral pyre.
Chirantan Dutta is a Kolkata-based hobbyist photographer who has been practicing photography since 2013. His work explores street, documentary, travel, and weather photography, focusing on candid human moments and the atmosphere of everyday life. He prefers a minimal post-processing approach, allowing the authenticity of the moment to remain central to his images.
Professionally, Chirantan works as a Management Consulting Analyst at Accenture. Alongside his corporate career, photography remains a deeply personal and reflective pursuit.
He was a winner of the Canon Click-o-torian contest in 2016, and his work has been exhibited at the Kolkata International Photography Festival in 2019, along with a few group exhibitions and photography showcases in recent years.
