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Undertoad · 03-26-2002, 03:11 PM

This is from a powerful collection of photographs found here . The subject is a religious shrine in India, called "The last resort" for a reason. From the text:

"About eighty men, women and children, having either exhausted doctors' attempts at curing their illnesses or run out of money in the process, are left roped or chained in the vicinity of the shrine in the hope that the saint will instead relieve them of their respective mental demons. With the woman still unquestionably bearing the brunt of social and family pressures in Indian society, it is not surprising that the majority of these 'resident' pilgrims are, in fact, female. Included in this number are epileptics and victims of deliberate malicious poisonings, young mothers traumatised during pregnancy or childbirth, and beaten wives. No [medical] drugs are administered; instead leaves from the margosa tree, said to have natural healing properties, are crushed into a paste and applied to the crowns of heads. Water drawn from the 'miraculous' village well is also drunk and used to bathe in."

Can you imagine these people with no hope... physically chained and left behind. This is one of the saddest things I have ever heard of. And yet for these people, it's just a way they have worked out to deal with the problems they face: smear a layer of faith over it all, giving it a thin veneer of hope, and the ability to leave without as much guilt.

Photo credit: Dave Smithson.

03-26-2002, 03:11 PM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	3/26: Last resort This is from a powerful collection of photographs found here . The subject is a religious shrine in India, called "The last resort" for a reason. From the text: "About eighty men, women and children, having either exhausted doctors' attempts at curing their illnesses or run out of money in the process, are left roped or chained in the vicinity of the shrine in the hope that the saint will instead relieve them of their respective mental demons. With the woman still unquestionably bearing the brunt of social and family pressures in Indian society, it is not surprising that the majority of these 'resident' pilgrims are, in fact, female. Included in this number are epileptics and victims of deliberate malicious poisonings, young mothers traumatised during pregnancy or childbirth, and beaten wives. No [medical] drugs are administered; instead leaves from the margosa tree, said to have natural healing properties, are crushed into a paste and applied to the crowns of heads. Water drawn from the 'miraculous' village well is also drunk and used to bathe in." Can you imagine these people with no hope... physically chained and left behind. This is one of the saddest things I have ever heard of. And yet for these people, it's just a way they have worked out to deal with the problems they face: smear a layer of faith over it all, giving it a thin veneer of hope, and the ability to leave without as much guilt. Photo credit: Dave Smithson.