Elephant Blessing, 2020

           Amma Mandapam Ritual Center, Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India

Stepping into the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India, I bore witness to a host of religious rituals which can be found in the numerous temples that pepper the landscape. At the Amma Mandapam Ritual Center, prayers take place in open halls situated along the Cauvery River. Brahmin priests line up and devotees sit in front of them to receive blessings for the dead, fertility or healing. In this setting, the artist was exposed to one of the more intriguing rituals of India, the Elephant Blessing. Elephants are thought to symbolize power, and, with an upraised trunk, fertility. Temple elephants are trained to take money in their trunks and then place the money atop of their head. In this photograph, the curious angle of an overzealous worshipper makes it appear as if he is being consumed by the elephant himself.

Archival Pigment Print

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