the men from Nandgaon prepare themselves before walking to Barsana to get hit with the laths-sticks by the women in the village…preparing means getting shields ready and getting red colour all over you…the shields are made with cardboard paper, pillows and sticks..all for the show..Nandgaon is a beautiful little village and the walk up to the temple was special but I have to show you all that in the next post…too many pictures otherwise
the temple is really on the top of the village
on one of the shields you can see the swastika..the swastika dates back to before 2nd century B.C and is a sacred and auspicious symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism..then during the WW 2 , someone namned Hitler stole it and ever after it’s been connected with the Nazis ..at least for us living in Europe and some other parts of the world.
the temple was so beautiful inside…I need to go back when it’s not filled with people , actually mostly men, carrying red colour to throw at you…
chanting, singing and throwing the red colour…getting in the mood for the show in Barsana where actually some of the men will be caught by the women… they then have to walk back to Nandgaon the next day dressed as women !
yet another adventure in colourful India.