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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Photo Essay | Pilgrims’ progress
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Photo Essay | Pilgrims’ progress

Vaishno Devi is a Hindu holy shrine, but the job to get the devotees closer to god is managed by Muslims

Four porters carry a palanquin to take pilgrims to the Vaishno Devi shrine situated at a height of 5,200ft. Photo: Sanjay Austa Premium
Four porters carry a palanquin to take pilgrims to the Vaishno Devi shrine situated at a height of 5,200ft. Photo: Sanjay Austa

New Delhi-based photographer Sanjay Austa has always been fascinated by people who have faith, because “he has none". Last year, Austa visited Vaishno Devi in Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, to document the pilgrims and their progress up the Trikuta mountain to visit the Hindu shrine situated at 5,200ft. “I wanted to photograph these people who brave the steep climb and difficult weather to reach the top for my larger series: Among the Believers," he says.

As the project progressed, he decided to highlight a different aspect of the pilgrimage: how faith brings different communities together and is a source of livelihood for some.

He spoke to the pony owners and the palanquin bearers who carry devotees up the mountain and found that most of them were Muslim. “They even shout ‘Jai Mata Di’ through the journey," says Austa.

Austa photographed these porters, mostly young Kashmiri men, as they carried pilgrims or took breaks during the steep 12km journey up the mountain side. He took several such trips up and down the mountain with the porters and the result was over 250 photographs.

On 4 July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 25km train service between Udhampur and Katra, enabling pilgrims to take a direct train from Delhi to the base camp of Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra, 50km from Jammu. This train will make it easier for people to travel to the shrine and is likely to translate into more work for the porters.

A round trip on a pony costs around 1,200, while for a palanquin ride, where four bearers are employed, it is 3,400. “This work provides year-round employment for these men, and that is what matters," he says.

“I wanted to show their movement against the still mountain side. Movement conveys their effort," he says. The focus remains on the people, and not on the scenic beauty. “It isn’t about the beauty of the place; the idea was to show religious harmony in the times of conflict and ghettoization," says Austa.

Austa now plans to visit other pilgrimage sites for his ongoing project Among the Believers.

“Amarnath is next," he says.

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Published: 22 Aug 2014, 06:28 PM IST
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