• Donate

The Culturium

Timeless, Wise & Beautiful

  • Welcome
  • Blog
  • Spirituality Series
  • The Sacred Feminine
  • The Culturium Collection
    • The Culturium Collection
    • Books & eBooks
      • Literature
      • Film
      • Wisdom
      • Visual Arts
      • Performing Arts
    • CDs & Digital Music
    • DVDs & Digital Movies

Sep 17 2017

Ditmar Bollaert: Arunachala Pradakshina

Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Exhibition, Santiago de Compostella
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

Siva incarnate

“Arunachala is within and not without
The Self is Arunachala

The mystery of the Hill
Is the mystery of the Self.”
—Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi

GEORGIA O’KEEFFE, the American modernist artist, famously painted the representation of a door in an adobe wall located in the courtyard of her Abiquiú farmstead, New Mexico, numerous times in an attempt to capture the very essence of the mystery of life. Metaphorically depicting the portal to her inner world of silence and contemplative stillness, O’Keeffe’s recurrent door canvases were a threshold to all that is “faraway” and sacred: “Making your unknown known is the most important thing,” she said, “and keeping the unknown always beyond you.”

Ditmar Bollaert, Belgian photographer and artist, has been similarly transfixed by endeavouring to distil the essence of a beloved embodiment of manifested phenomena—the Hindu god, Siva, himself no less—in an exquisitely beautiful series of 108 black and white photographs of the Holy Hill at Tiruvannamalai, India.

From the time of the Rig Veda, seekers have been drawn to the magnetic power of Arunachala, making the 14-kilometre circumambulation called Giri Pradakshina: “Pradakshina” means the act of walking around any holy place in a clockwise direction; “Giri” means hill.

Undoubtedly the most esteemed devotee of the mountain was Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, who was drawn to its alluring force even as a young boy when the sound of its name evoked a deep longing for something mysterious and magical. Such was his devotion that he composed Five Hymns to Arunachala, including the Marital Garland of Letters, 108 verses in praise and obeisance to the Holy Hill.

Ditmar Bollaert has artfully presented each verse of the Marital Garland, in English and Tamil, with a portrait of Arunachala taken at various locations along the Pradakshina path. The impact of sacred verse counterpointed with sublime photography effectively renders Arunachala Pradakshina a work of scripture, its divine essence pouring from every page making the unknown known, and thus awakening within our hearts intoxicated reverence and humble awe.

Ganapati, O embodiment of Grace
Protect me and lend me your helping hand
So I may make this bridal garland
Worthy of the bridegroom: Arunachala!

Arunachala Siva, Arunachala Siva,
Arunachala Siva, Arunachala!
Arunachala Siva, Arunachala Siva,
Arunachala Siva, Arunachala!

1
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

O Arunachala, you root out the ego of those who think of you at heart.

2
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

O Arunachala, may I and you, like Azhagu and Sundara become one and be indivisible!

12
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

You are the one without a second, the sole, real being, O Arunachala. Who can hide from you or hide from you and come in here? If strangers come in, it is with your knowledge. All this is but your jugglery.

29
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

Arunachala, O moon of Grace, with your rays as with cool fingers, touch my heart and open the nectar mouth within.

30
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

Remove this cloth, expose me naked and then clothe me with your loving Grace, O Arunachala.

34
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

Unless you join me, O Arunachala, this body will melt away in a river of tears and I shall die.

35
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

If you say ‘Fie’ and scorn me, O Arunachala, my past deeds will torture me and where is there hope of life for me?

62
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

Painlessly, you have bartered yourself for me. You have been death to me, O Arunachala.

63
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

Look at me! Think of me! Touch me! Make me fit! Ripen me! Then be my master, govern me, O Arunachala!

82
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

In the body’s inner chamber, on the flower-soft bed of mind, let us merge in one true being, O Arunachala.

83
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

How is it that by more and more of union with the poor and humble, you have become more and more noble and famous?

87
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

Standing silent like a stone, unblossoming, Is this true mouna, O Arunachala?

88
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

Who was it that thrust mud into my mouth and deprived me of my livelihood, O Arunachala?

100
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina - The Culturium
Ditmar Bollaert, Arunachala Pradakshina.
Photograph: © Ditmar Bollaert

Place your hand on my head as a sign of blessing. Make and keep me as your subject. Do not abandon me, O Arunachala.

Post Notes

  • Ansel Adams: The Search for Beauty
  • Michael Kenna: Buddha
  • Paula Marvelly: Rendezvous With Ramana
  • W. Somerset Maugham: The Saint
  • Paula Marvelly: A Singular Man
  • Jean R. Dedieu: Jnani, The Silent Sage of Arunachala
  • Andy Richter: Serpent in the Wilderness
  • Laura Emerson: Deep Sea Contemplation
  • Gabriel Rosenstock & Debiprasad Mukherjee: Mural World
  • René Daumal: Mount Analogue

Join Our Newsletter

Written by Paula Marvelly · Categorized: Visual Arts · Tagged: arunachala pradakshina, belgian, bhagavan sri ramana maharshi, ditmar bollaert:, five hymns to arunachala, marital garland of letters, photography, ramanasramam, tiruvannamalai

Donate With PayPal

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube

You might also like some of the following recent posts on The Culturium …

  • M. A. Littler: Beyond the White Rains May 11, 2025
  • Markéta Luskačová & Gabriel Rosenstock: Pilgrim Soul May 4, 2025
  • The Spirituality of Jane Austen May 1, 2025
  • Robert Harris: Conclave April 20, 2025
  • Mason Currey: Daily Rituals April 13, 2025
  • Abbas Kiarostami: Certified Copy April 6, 2025
  • Michael Kenna: Buddha March 30, 2025
  • Matsuo Bashō et al.: Four Huts March 16, 2025
  • Rashid Maxwell: In Memoriam March 9, 2025
  • Contact
  • Affiliates
  • Archives
  • Terms of Use

© 2025 The Culturium · All rights reserved · Built on the Rainmaker Platform ·

~The Culturium has affiliate links with Amazon Associates Program and Apple Services Performance Partners Program, powered by Geniuslink~

Privacy Policy