Photographer Talks About His Book Depicting "Living Faith"

April 22, 2004

Source: Beliefnet.com

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/144/story_14482_1.html

On April 22, 2004 Beliefnet.com posted an interview with Dinesh Khanna about his photographic documentation of India in his new book, Living Faith. The article reported, "A decade ago, photographer Dinesh Khanna set out to record his fellow Indians' everyday lives and the country's kaleidescopic culture. Two collections have come out of his journey: 'Bazaar' (2001) and his new book, 'Living Faith: Windows into the Sacred Life of India.' As religious strife has disrupted India's politics, Khanna was increasingly driven to tell a different story, of India's extraordinarily peaceful religious diversity." About religious strife in India, Khanna said, "The ugliness of religious strife has to do with the political life of a nation, not with individuals. It's about power, not belief." He said he hose to make faith the subject of his photography because, "The practice of faith is so out there, so unabashed. People come for religious reasons to a temple or mosque, and a bazaar springs up. Commerce and faith are interlinked. India's political leadership has borrowed alien frames--socialism and secularism--and superimposed them on our economy and on our faith. Secularism in the minds of Indian intellectuals became non-religion, even anti-religion." The article also included a section of sample photographs taken from Living Faith.