Stock Photography Fine Art photo prints at Traveller Dreams


- Posters & Prints - Stock Photos - Web Graphics -	Information \| Stock Photography \| Photo Prints \| Contact Us

enter keyword to search:
Images db
Articles db

Stock photo Location

Stock photo Subject

Related articles:

Sarnath

Orchha

Amristar Golden Temple

Related photograph categories:

Hindu Temples Architecture

Gompas & Buddhist Monasteries

Hindu Sacred Art

Mountain Landscape

Hindu Gods and Ceremonies

Classical Dances of India

Cham Buddhist Sacred Dances

Stock Photography Online Digital Library of

>> Home > India

Varanasi the Holy City

The City of Shiva

The Varanasi name means between the rivers Varana and Asi, but it is also called in a number of other ways: Kashi (Kasi) the ‘City of Light’, intersection of the divive light (kàsh) that destroys the darkness of ignorance, but also Avimuktaka, one of the names of Brahman the saviour, or Anandakànana (the greatest delight to God), Rudravasa, the place where Shiva (Rudra) resides and yet Mahàsmàsana, "the Great Cremation ground". While Varanasi name refers to the urban settlement itself Kasi name is the sacred realm encircled by the outermost pilgrimage circuit Pancakrosiyatra.

Ghats of Varanasi

Shiva the Great God, wearing of the Ganga into his hair

This and more photographs can be found at:

Traveller Dreams

Benares is the permanent abode of Shiva worshipped here as Vishveshvara (Visweswara) or Vishvanàtha, Lord of the Universe. Every place of the city is linked with one of his legends, or his sixtyfour incarnations (avatàra) or to one of his onethousand and eight names, Lord of the religious hymns and of the sacrifices, the divine healer, shining like the sun, the one that brings prosperity to mankind and to the animals, the benignant, the one that frees from sins, the omniscient with the third eye (Triambaka). He is Mahadeva the Great God Maheshvara (the Great Lord), Mahàkala (the mighty time that restlessly destroyes everything), the Mahà-yogin, Panchànana (with five heads representimg the four directions and the zenith). And yet Shiva is the creator but also in the same time the destroyer, he is Bhairava, the terribile, and Bhùteshvara, Lord of the spirits that dwell the cremation grounds where he is seen as the Tandava (the dancer the dance of distruction and the creation). Shiva is usually represented with in his hairs, interwoven like a Yogin, the crescent moon and the Ganga Waters. His garlang is strung of skulls, because he is the lord of the deads, and his harms are twisted with poisonous snakes. The Trishùla is his weapon, representing the triple aspect of creation (Brahmà), sustenance (Vishnu) and destruction (Shiva) of the world, and the power over the divine, earthly and under world. The sound of his Damaru, the hourglass shaped drum, represents the eternal cosmic play of creation and dissolution.

Shivalingam

Lingam, the shapeless form of Shiva, counts by thousands in Benares

This and more photographs can be found at:

Traveller Dreams

India Benares stock photographs

Several temples and shrines adorn Benares, virtually every block of houses has a shrine, lingams, the shapeless form of Shiva, counts by thousands, so as Nandi the bull vehicle and doorkeeper of its temples. Often atop the Lingam there is a cobra -Naag- Naga. One Jyotir-lingam (lingam of light) is worshipped in Vishvanàtha temple, here brahmins and pilgrims continuously perform the bathing ceremony abhisheka with Ganges sacred waters. Everywhere in the city it is possible to see smaller lingam, and in all shiva temple temples the lingam is always kept wet with Gange water falling day and night throughout a pot. In addition to the lingam, Shiva is also encountered in the form of weird dressed worshippers that, with the trishul in their hands, walk along the ghats singing hymns.

Lord Ganesh

everything starts with offering to Ganesa

This and more photographs can be found at:

Traveller Dreams

Oftern we see some divinities, mainly Ganesh and Hanuman, represented with an aniconic form (murti) by unworked "natural" stones these are usually stone blocks covered over with red cloth or painted in red with an orange mixture made of sindour, the red powder, mixed with ghee clarified butter

Mother Ganga

flows in the valleys and lives by the side of Parvati

This and more photographs can be found at:

Traveller Dreams

Banaras is a well-defined mandala with Visvesvara temple as its innermost sanctuary protected by successive shells. It is also one of the 51 Shakti Peethas the the places where the parts of the body of Sati felt on earth, in the tank known as Manikarnika well it is said that Sati earring dropped and that Shiva dug the tank out to recover it, filling it with his sweat. Even if one other legend says instead that Vishnu created the kund with his chakra, and filled it with perspiration and, when Shiva quivered with delighted, his earning fell into it.

Manikarnika Ghat

smashan, the cremation ground

This and more photographs can be found at:

Traveller Dreams

India Benares stock photographs

Benares is the holiest "tirthas", which literally means a "crossing" between the divine and the mortals. Lying at the centre of the five tirthas, Manikarnika Ghat the ghàt of the deads, is the most sacred of all Ghats of the city. Here start the Panch-kosi yatra, the circuit, that some five hundred years ago became the outermost pilgrimage encircling a sacred territory ideally defined by a radius of pancakrosa or 17,6 km, with the the Lord of the Universe, Visvesvara, as its centre. After the vow at Jnanvapi and a purifying bath at Manikarnika Ghat - The pilgrimage start at Manikarnikesvara the first sanctuary on the Yatra hidden in a pit at the bottom of which (two floors below) there is the lingam, only the Brahmin may acceder at the lingam, from there the citcuit passes along 108 sacred places before returning to Manikarnika Ghat.

Varanasi ghats

The Ganga Fire Arti

This and more photographs can be found at:

Traveller Dreams

Mahasmasaanam the great cremation ground of the entire universe…. Corpses are brought continuously in the smashan, the cremation ground, The Death Ritual starts with the body facing south, the abode of Yama the god of death. Then the feet, or sometimes the entire lower half of the body, is soaked into the river, this act prevents the vital principle, the prana, from leaving the body inauspiciously through one of its lower openings. Now the chief mourner usually the son performs a ritual circumambulation around the pyre before setting it on fire. As the pyre and corpse burn the head of the corpse is broken, at which time the soul leaves in the form of a preta to begin its postmortem journey. The son then bath to purify, but still remains untouchable for a period of 10 days during this time he goes every morning to a banyan tree close to the river, to offer Ganga water to the spirit. For the first twelve days after death the spirit is existing in the form of a 'preta', a wondering ghost, after which it is conceived as becoming an ancestor spirit a 'pitr', the spirit's journey to Yama's realm continues during the first year after death when he finally safely reaches, the 'pitr loka' the abode of the ancestors.

Varanasi ghats

offers to the spirit of the dead to a banyan tree

This and more photographs can be found at:

Traveller Dreams

India stock photographs

  Related Pages
  - Varanasi the holy city - Stock Photography
  - Hindu Temples - Architecture Stock Photography
  - Indian Ritual Dance - Stock Photography
  - National Parks in India - Stock Photography
  - Ladakh heritage, the Cham Dances - Stock Photography
  - Gompas of Ladakh - Architecture Stock Photography
  - Mountain scenery of Ladakh - Stock Photography

Welcome to Traveller Dreams on-line stock Photo Gallery. This website provides a large and growing original collection of high quality high resolution photographs/pictures immediately available to browse.
Our photography online Library is a source of worldwide unpublished images with online search facility for genuine photo buyers, a major collections of digital downloadable stock pictures for fast and efficient delivery.
With our Web Site Picture buyers may conveniently access inspirational photography from around the world. Images are organised coherently with an intuitive navigation so you can find what you want with the fewest number of mouse clicks. Our photos are indexed according to categories and keywords. Browse through picture categories for ideas and inspiration.

Our stock photography expertise is in the category of active adventure travel experience: the country, the places, the culture, people, the architecture.
Our catalog covers numerous themes: from landscape nature stock photography to architectural details photography, still life, religious photography, outdoor photography, scenic photography, travel photograph, people photo, background photo, Beach, Coastal, Forests, Geography, Habitats, Landscapes, mountain photo, Plants, Rivers. Stock Photos collection of Cities and City Skylines, Lifestyles; Stock Photography of Architecture and Tourism Destinations; Rural lifestyle, archaeology photography, traditional markets, bazaar suks photography indigenous and native people.
The extensive range of editorial images will stimulate the imagination.
vibrant color images from around the World Europe & Mediterranean destinations and landscape photography (particularly Italy, Europe) plus a selective worldwide coverage.
Photography gallery which showcases the European cultural heritage, stock Photography web gallery of landscape and Mediterranean nature.
New places around the world are continuously added to our photo collection.
All the photographs on this site have been scanned up to 50Mb file size for immediate use. High resolution scans are delivered ready within 1 day of ordering.

You can purchase

fine art print
License for print editorial use (newspapers, magazines, brochures, etc.)
or license for non-print use (web, CD-ROM, video games, etc.)

Fine-art Print

Our photo library is perfect if you look for fine art photography
We sell Photographic Prints as fine art in custom-made beautiful photo print made with the latest photographic print digital technology.

STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY STOCK PHOTOS PICTURES WEB IMAGES RIGHT MANAGED STOCK PHOTOGRAPHS

Architectural stock photography	Gallery of beach sea cost and villages pictures
Photo archaeology sites	Landscape stock photo gallery
Nature stock photography	Corsica stock photography and scenic picture
Cusco Peru Travel photos	Tunisia Travel pictures photos of Culture and Civilization
Mediterranean nature and landscape photos Gallery	Portugal images picture gallery Images of Lisbon Alentejo
High quality Italian Images of Lake Como	Images of Turkey Istanbul
Pictures of Spain and Andalucia photos	Sardinia Pictures
Gallery of Brittany France photos	Sicily picture photo gallery
Mountain Pictures	Trees stock photographs
Pictures of Venice Italy and its architecture	Photo of Croatia Split Dubrovnik