Customer Reviews

Sadhus: India's Mystic Holy Men

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The men (and very occasionally women) portrayed in this inconspicuous volume are compelling in the extreme. It is only necessary to gaze at their faces and ash-dusted bodies to fully appreciate the gift of this work. But the author/photographer offers so much more.

As a study in psychology in extremis, the wealth of behavioral detail and description is satisfying. And the diverse, often incredibly imaginative, rituals of self-abnegation are conveyed with tremedous sensitivty and scrupulous balance.

The text is dense, and possibly impenetrable in places. It is academic in its emphasis on getting every possible relevant detail down. So one is met with an avalanche of esoterica upon delving in.

Perhaps the writing assumes a bit of knowlege and sophistication in Eastern ways? But it really doesn't matter anyway. Somehow a sense of what is important filters through after a while. And the photo captions are well-written and fascinating.

This is a picture of a society of devotees who have given it ALL up in order to stay exquisitely near to the timeless, pitiless cycle of death and regeneration that powers all life. The book itself is clearly an act of devotion to that extaordinay commitment.

I went to India twice, the first time for 4 months, and sadhus are definetly one of the most interesting people of the hindu world. Obviously their lifestyle is not comprehended by westerners and even less by closed-minded people who probably have never been to another continent with a different culture (as reviewer fro Hawaii); or if they have, they still have'nt learned to respect the differences and traditions among different societies. Since my first trip to India I saw this book on many bookstores there, and after comparing it to many others this is the one with the best pictures of the holly men. Incomprehension should not be a cause of disrespect; actually, this has caused wars, and still does.

Cool color pictures, and intense documentation on the fascinating aspect of Hinduism that someone who's never been to India would have a hard time learning about. This is the India that non-Indians think of when they hear the term "India;" mysterious, forboding, and hard for the mind to think of for too long without profound bewilderment. Reccomend to anyone with even a mild interest in India or Hinduism, as is this is an integral part of her past, present, and undoubtedly, her future.

This is one of my favorite books. Just by looking at the pictures I feel as though I am put in a higher state of consciousness. These men - and a few women - are fascinating. The pictures are beautifully done, and the text is very informative and provides information regarding the different groups of Sadhus and their - by our society's standards - unusual practices.

Two things that I found interesting about this book were: the discussion of rituals done by the Sadhus with the intention of shedding light on the non-duality of life ("life is death, death is life"), and that to the Sadhu "rationality" is not the prime objective in life. The book says that what is considered rational is too grounded in the transient world of appearances to be of concern to the Sadhu. The goal of the Sadhu is to go beyond the world of appearances and duality, and that often means going beyond what the world would consider rational.

This is a group of people that most of us will probably never be able to fully understand, and I certainly do not claim that I do. But I find them fascinating and very inspiring. This book is one of the best documentations of their life and world which, as the book mentions, may sadly be coming to an end due to the influence of the West.

an india friend of mine loaned me his copy of "Sadhus" and after reading it I went and bought my own. But I gave that to my brother so now I've ordered another from Amazon. You can tell I like it. Thirty years ago I spent a year in India and saw some sadhus from time to time. This book captures my memories of sadhus. I was reminded of the different types of expression. Some are friendly, some silent and remote and others that are to strange to my mind for me to relate to. But they all look like they have the spiritual quest at heart. Thanks to the author for refreshing my memory.

If an ordinary worldly-minded person was to read this book, there would only be two extreme reactions. One would feel shocked and disgusted while the other would be filled with deep admiration for this class of human beings. I belong to the latter!

While reading this book, I felt a great shift of my consciousness to a higher plane. It was as if most of the sadhus were blessing me and were aware that I was reading about their fascinating way of life. It is definitely light years away from the modern world! The pictures of these holy men were simply breath-taking and the authors objective view (filled with subtle humour) of these sadhus is amazingly filled with reverence and a deep understanding of Hindu philosophy.

If one were to visit India, he/she must pay a visit to these holy men. That is the REAL India!

I read the book without interruption!Easy to go throught, and plenty of information about the Sadhus. But the writer was a little bit unemotional in his way. very god pictures.

I loved the pictures in this book. But the contents look more academical than spiritual:
- The author talks about Aryan migration a lot in this book. He mentions, "the Sadhu culture was an Indo-Aryan culture..." etc. It has been disproved by several archeological evidences and genetic structure research (Human Genome Research Institute) that no Aryan migration ever happened in India. Sorry to digress, but this Aryan "theory" was proposed during the British rule by the British to justify their existence in India like, "Indians themselves weren't native but Aryan migrants, and hence we have the same right to claim ownership of this land as they did".
- The author mentions, "Shiva expressed destructive powers and hence, out of fear, Gods considered Him powerful" - this was more of like expressing some political view than any actual spirituality. Shiva is a "personification" of destructive power (read: destroy evil / rebirth of consciousness). Though there are several Gods and Goddesses in Hinduism, they are personification of different qualities. One can be a Dvaithic and worship a form or, an advaithic and don't even need a form of God. No God is more powerful or less powerful, be it Hindu God or Christian God.
- The author should have researched more and wrote from his heart, than using the so-called "rational mind". I am pretty disappointed with an academic nature / proposing "theories" of this otherwise beautiful book.

"Sadhus" is a book about the more extreme aspects of Hinduism. It's not intended to be sensationalist, but nevertheless gives that impression, with its colourful photos of bizarre and deviant ascetics in India. The text is informative and obviously based on scholarly sources. This isn't a Hindu book or a work recasting Hinduism as New Age. This is the real thing - take it or leave it. Or part of the real thing, since Hinduism encompasses much more than these "holy men" and their hard-line renunciation. (Indeed, it could be argued that "Hinduism" is actually an agglomeration of several different traditions, interacting with each other in various ways. But I'm digressing.)

The book covers both Shaiva and Vaishnava asceticism, and also mentions a few rather extreme groups. There are the Aghoris, who deliberately act mad and drink from human skulls. The Sakhis are transvestites who worship Krishna by pretending to be his female consort, Radha. Both groups are intensely controversial. More respectable are the Wrestlers, a group of devotees to the monkey god Hanuman, who spend most of their time wrestling and body building in honour of their god.

Many of the photos border the disgusting and can be quite shocking. (One of my friends almost threw my copy into the garbage bin after leafing through it!) Some ascetics keep one of their arms permanently raised for years, until the arm withers away and becomes a useless stick. Others rub their nude bodies in ashes...from cremation pyres. "The fire austerity" is also pictured in which the ascetic meditates for hours with a burning bowl on his head. A less dangerous ritual is to simply smoke hash!

To be perfectly honest, I consider these sadhus to be quite insane. Our physical bodies aren't evil and are made to be used. These people are super-alienated. A different kind of society would presumably make this strange phenomenon go away.

In the future, people will read "Sadhus" and wonder what on earth these people thought they were doing.

This is a beautiful book about a bunch of morons. The basic fallacy of this book is that the people written about in this book are "mystic holy men" and that living a life of asceticism and renunciation and smearing your body with ashes and doing a bunch of rituals will bring enlightenment. Total hogwash.