Here's a shot from above, showing the palanquin and (on the horse) one of the Kedarnath temple priests. By tradition, Kedarnath temple priests are South Indian Virashaivas (an early medieval devotional sect devoted to Shiva as the supreme and only god), and they appear to be ascetics as well.
He and his companion are clearly higher status, since they are riding horses while others walk. November 2005
Outside the town the procession stopped for ten minutes, and a local devotee gave tea to all the marchers and onlookers (including me). The palanquin was set down with the standards leaning against it, and the priest conducted some worship on behalf of the man and his family (whose wife and daughter can be seen in the background).
Here's a closeup of the traveling image. It has four faces (as does the temple image at Pashupatinath in Nepal), and is crafted of silver and gold. Note the silver umbrella on top of the palanquin, which mirrors the larger silver umbrella that hangs over the primary image in the temple (and is conveyed up and down as a symbol of the deity).
Here's a close-up of the larger silver umbrella, which was propped up on some of the reinforcing rods protruding from the roof of the building (which will someday be the floor of another building. The tooling and decoration is clearly visible, and the quality of the work is very fine.
November 2005
After ten minutes or so the drummers started beating time to get the procession moving for the final half mile to the Vishvanath temple, where the image would spend the night in a guest house.
Here several men were lifting the palanquin so that the two palanquin carriers could get themselves in position. You can see the sweat running down the face of the man in the foreground (who in previous pictures was the man in front of the palanquin), clearly showing the effort needed to carry it. November 2005
Here the drummers and procession are entering the Gupt Kashi temple compound. The procession circled (clockwise) around the compound's two temples--both dedicated to Shiva--and then went to the guest house where the image would spend the night before traveling to Ukhimath the next day.
I was perfectly placed for a photo of the deity entering the temple a moment later, but with this picture the memory card on my digital camera was full, and so I didn't get the photo--either a sign of my inexperience, a bit of divine play to frustrate me, or perhaps both! November 2005
