Beauty in Ritual

On our second day in Delhi, after sourcing end of run fabrics, and dining and shopping in the local courtyard mall, we met the girls of a orphanage that our host supports. These girls were so happy and full of life. We filled the restaurant with lots of noise and laughter. (No photos of the girls posted to protect their privacy.)

After an early rise and 3 hour car journey we arrived in Vrindavin, south of Delhi, where we were welcomed by the photographer Robyn Beeche into the Ashram where she lives. We are here to learn embroidery and beading at the Ashok School of Embroidery, and to collaborate with Ashok's artisans on some contemporary designs of our own.

Being a temple town, ritual is everywhere in Vrindavin, and I love this richness, how they incorporate their Hindu religion into daily life. What touches me is the aesthetic beauty of their rituals. How Shilpi, the wife of the Ashram guru's son, blessed us before our first day at the embroidery studio, like her Mother would do for her before an exam, by placing a bindi on our forehead and giving us some sweet biscuits she had baked. 

Shilpi blessing Sarah

The chanting and use of roses and coconut water in the puja or ceremony of Ashok's brand new school. The pujari (priest assistant) in his beautifully embroidered white robes gave each of us a bindi as we held rose petals that he then sprinkled on the shrine. 

The Pujari placing thread around my wrist after giving me a bindi.

Lighting a floating candle on our morning river tour in Vrindavin.

The wearing of different colours for each day of the week: pink for Monday, orange for Tuesday, green on Wednesday, yellow on Thursday, multi colours for Friday, black or blue for Saturday and red on Sunday. 

The evocative, energising singing and music in Sri Radharaman Mandir, the ashram temple, to which one woman spontaneously got up and danced before the deity.

Dancing in the temple.

In contrast, western society could do with more ritualistic beauty. Perhaps the Enlightenment has had too much of a sanitising effect on culture. Capitalism and individualism have also left its scars. Are aesthetically beautiful rituals and ways of relating to one another  replaced with aesthetically beautiful luxury consumer goods? 

Reflecting on what I have seen in Vrindavin, as a Western Christian, at times I look for a more aesthetically enriching expression of my own faith. The use of colour, flowers, performance and gifts, perhaps.  Perhaps there will be inspiration in the traditions of  the Greek Orthodox, Egyptian Coptic or Nasrani Christians (the latter from Kerala in India's south). And the Bible itself is rich with imagery, which as a design student I can try to respond to in fresh, contemporary ways. This will be both a challenge and an enriching experience.