καιρός remembered

Showing off

This priest can boast of looking after the largest lingam and – its counterpart – yoni in Hampi, once the capital of the ancient Vijayanagar Empire. It seems as though he is weighed down by the heavy responsibility resting on his shoulders.

At Kalinjar Fort in Uttar Pradesh (see previous post), I was once persuaded to crawl through a narrow hole at the rear of the Neelkanth Temple, right up against the rock face, to view – by torchlight – a row of enormous lingams. No one could tell me why they were there. Perhaps they had once served as objects of some secret cult?

The phalluses were partly buried under a thick layer of sand; only their realistically shaped glans were visible. My awkward position on all fours, combined with the mysterious atmosphere, gave me the feeling that I’d ended up in an Indian version of a Lara Croft film.

Photo of the week: Badavi lingam, Hampi, Karnataka, India 2014