Kathmandu Boudhanath — Dawn Stupa Circumambulation
749.00 د.إ
The Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu at 5:30am — the Tibetan Buddhist pilgrims in their clockwise circumambulation of the world’s largest stupa, butter lamps burning at the base, the all-seeing eyes of the Buddha visible above.
Description
Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu is the largest stupa in Asia and the centre of Tibetan Buddhist community life in Nepal — the circumambulation (kora) begins before dawn with elderly Tibetan pilgrims who complete multiple circuits of the 64-metre-diameter stupa base in the first hours of the morning. The pre-dawn photography window is optimal: the butter lamps burning at the stupa’s base provide the only illumination, the pilgrims’ prayer beads and prayer wheels are in motion, and the stupa’s white dome rises into the pre-dawn blue above. This image was made at 5:30am on a February morning, the circumambulation in full activity — 30-40 pilgrims in the frame at various points of the kora path. Shot on a 24mm prime at f/2.8 at ISO 6400 using available butter lamp and ambient pre-dawn light, the stupa’s white dome, the prayer flag strings, and the Buddha’s golden eyes above the harmika are all legible in the available illumination.
