Artist Lalit Verma’s photo expo displays the various shades of ‘Maha Kumbh Mela’

Artist Lalit Verma's photo exhibition captures the diverse experiences and unity at the 'Maha Kumbh Mela' in Prayagraj.

Retiring to his room after a frustratingly unproductive first day at the holy site of the ‘Maha Kumbh Mela’ at Prayagraj in early 2025, artist Lalit Verma would suddenly remember the lines from Sri Aurobindo’s epic poem ‘Savitri’.

Recalling the episode during the opening of ‘Out of the Unknown We Move to the Unknown’, at a recent photo exhibition on the ‘Purna Maha Kumbh Mela’ at the Aurodhan art gallery recently, Verma says after returning to his place, his eyes fell on an image of a flock of birds on water from which a single one rose in flight.

The photo, which is one of the exhibits, would stir up memories of the lines from the canto: “A fire has come and touched men’s hearts and gone; A few have caught flame and risen to greater life”.

It set him thinking about how the go-getters and gurus, achievers and the ascetics, the institution builders and the itinerant sadhus, assembled for an event that represented a leveller of humanity. In fact, he recalled how he was struck by the inclusive nature of the event. “Pilgrims came from different parts, cultures and with different stories... united by a single-minded goal, an aspiration for transformation”.

The exhibits form a part of a vast collection of photographs taken during his 20-day experiential stint at Prayagraj where millions of believers converged for a holy dip in the Tirveni Sangam, confluence point of the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers.

The expo was presented at Kuala Lumpur, while a documentary on the event was presented at Cannes, he said.