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TITLE: Environs de Calcutta. Octobre 1842. (A Road with A Rich Indian's Carriage Passing a Colony of Sannyasis.)
ARTIST: Alexis Sotykoff
LITHOGRAPHER: Louis Henri de Rudder (1807-1881), after Prince A Sotykoff
PUBLISHER: Auguste Bry
YEAR: 1842
MEDIUM: Lithograph
SURFACE: Paper
IMAGE SIZE: 52 x 68 cm
WITH MOUNT: 67 x 85.5 cm
WITH FRAME: 81 x 99 cm

Lithograph of a road in the vicinity of Calcutta by L.H. de Rudder (1807-1881) .This print shows the carriage of a rich Indian passing a colony of sanyasis. Sanyasis or sadhus in Hinduism are holy men who have taken the path of renunciation. In the Hindu tradition, a man's life was divided into four ashramas or stages: brahmacharya (childhoodand celibate youth), grihastha (householder) vanaprastha (householder devoted to spiritual pursuits) and sanyasa (ascetic). Sanyasa was in essence the culmination of an ideal life, when a human being practiced austerity and tried to discover life'struths and oneness with God. Having turned their back on material comforts, sanyasis sported unshorn hair and beards, meditating and performing rigorous penances and retreating to

isolated caves, forests and hills. (British Library Board)