Publisher's Synopsis
Nature has always played a large part in the spiritual and cerebral landscape of Kerala. This volume is a document of its people's perception of Nature's power and mystery. Hinduism here worships the same deities as the rest of India; it is her relationship to these deities that sets Kerala apart. These photographs chart the way in which the people of this region fuse with their land and their gods - allowing the reader to observe how both have been sublimely understood.;Throughout India's other regions, especially in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, deities are mainly housed in temples which reflect more the king or patron who built them than the qualities and sanctity of the gods themselves. In Kerala the gods sit close, in shrines as simple and austere as the homes of their devotees. This volume rejoices in the seemingly casual familiarity of worship and the undercurrents of a deep and eternal respect that characterize Kerala's unique and affecting take on traditional Hindu myths and rituals.
