Offering to the goddess; River of Heads by Narayan Tushar Kaudinya

Narayan Tushar Kaudinya lives as a Filmmaker and documentary photographer. He did independent theatre and worked as an illustrator. While travelling, also learning about language and society, he taught children in northern Indian states in winters.

Magazine

Our printed editions, circulating throughout various galleries, festivals and agencies are dipped in creativity.

The spirit of DODHO’s printed edition is first and foremost an opportunity to connect with a photographic audience that values the beauty of print and those photographers exhibited within the pages of this magazine.

We invite professional and amateur photographers from all around the world to share their work in our printed edition.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ban28.jpg

I learnt about Gadhimai Fair a month ago of its happening. Imagining about it in Delhi, I will not realize that a festival of this magnitude still exists. In 2009, two million animals were culled together out in the open in one day as an offering to the goddess.

It came again after five years.  Many countries asked Nepal government to stop the killings. India banned its animal’s crossing over to Nepal- a big move as the majority of people coming to the fair comes from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, India.

NARAYANKAUDINYA_1

Gadhimai fair is a sacrificial ritual that is held every 5 years at the Gadhimai Temple of Bariyarpur, in Bara District. It is primarily celebrated by Madheshi tribal people and Bihari people.  Large crowds, villages together have come to pay their respects from different parts of Nepal and India. Placing themselves in fields spread in acres. They are cooking, sleeping, eating, playing cards under the trees, behind bushes, inside their cars, or on tractors, under or over buses and trucks. This particular village is donating 250 male water buffaloes to the Gadhimai Temple Trust for the holy sacrifice.

NARAYANKAUDINYA_2

10 million people turned up this year sacrificing 400,000 animals on the first day. With the temple’s head priest performing ritual sacrifice called Saptabali which includes the sacrifice of white mice, pigeons, roosters, ducks, swine and male water buffaloes. More than 30,000 buffaloes were sacrificed on the first day.

Why do they sacrifice? I asked a person from the temple administration. They, I think 99 percent of the people wish for a child, a boy. Ma fulfills their wishes and then they come here with an offering. As the tradition goes, people promise to pay respects to the mother after their wish gets fulfilled.  Just for a boy? I asked. Yes. What if it’s a girl? Well, then they wont come. They will probably wish again. They don’t sacrifice anything if a girl happens to the family.

It’s been four and half-hours since the sacrifice started. I am maneuvering my way back home. Millions of people are still coming and going. There was no place to walk apart from being one in the crowd. Bodies can be found almost anywhere; they were never hard to look out for that afternoon. It’s been 6 hours since the killings started. It will still go on for another 6 hours. I distracted myself by speaking into my voice recorder. God knows how many more will be killed. Headless bodies or just the heads hanging on very many shoulder going away from the river, towards home. It’s a feast. All seem partying like a big happy family. All are carrying weapons as if they were born with it having a third arm. Going home was never this dreadful. Walking and forced to watch each and every thing happening around you. No cycle, no car, no jeep. No tractor. Nothing moved. For sometime I took a stroll along the fields to watch over, I found a baby buffalo sitting alone behind a bush on grass, living. Looking at the masses going by.
NARAYANKAUDINYA_3

About Narayan Tushar Kaudinya

Narayan Tushar Kaudinya lives as a Filmmaker and documentary photographer. He did independent theatre and worked as an illustrator. While travelling, also learning about language and society, he taught children in northern Indian states in winters. He also runs a primary school with his mother for the underprovided in Delhi. [Official Website]

 

NARAYANKAUDINYA_4

NARAYANKAUDINYA_5 NARAYANKAUDINYA_6 NARAYANKAUDINYA_7 NARAYANKAUDINYA_8 NARAYANKAUDINYA_9 NARAYANKAUDINYA_10 NARAYANKAUDINYA_11 NARAYANKAUDINYA_12 NARAYANKAUDINYA_13 NARAYANKAUDINYA_14 NARAYANKAUDINYA_15 NARAYANKAUDINYA_16 NARAYANKAUDINYA_17 NARAYANKAUDINYA_18 NARAYANKAUDINYA_19

Other Stories

stay in touch
Join our mailing list and we'll keep you up to date with all the latest stories, opportunities, calls and more.
We use Sendinblue as our marketing platform. By Clicking below to submit this form, you acknowledge that the information you provided will be transferred to Sendinblue for processing in accordance with their terms of use
We’d love to
Thank you for subscribing!
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted.
- Between 10/30 images of your best images, in case your project contains a greater number of images which are part of the same indivisible body of work will also be accepted. You must send the images in jpg format to 1200px and 72dpi and quality 9. (No borders or watermarks)
- A short biography along with your photograph. (It must be written in the third person)
- Title and full text of the project with a minimum length of 300 words. (Texts with lesser number of words will not be accepted)
This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Contact
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted. This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation.
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Get in Touch
How can we help? Do you have an idea or something you'd like to share? Please use the form provided, or contact us at contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.