Word: mishra
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Lifting folded palms to the rising sun, silver-haired Veer Bhadra Mishra steps into the Ganges to begin his ritual morning ablution. As the mahant, or spiritual and administrative head, of the second largest temple in Varanasi, the main destination for Hindu pilgrims in India, Mishra is a very important man. Since the 16th century, the job has passed from father to eldest son. Devotees scramble to touch his feet, traders whisper their business hopes, and students seek his blessing before final exams. As a child he learned the sacred chants and rites--including the importance of a daily...
...wear priest's robes, she let him buy a forbidden pair of trousers. His education helped him understand threats to the Ganges, and since 1982 he has struggled to open the eyes of bureaucrats and the public. Supported in part by aid from the U.S. and Swedish governments, Mishra juggles his roles as priest and activist. As he takes a call from Washington inviting him to a waste-management conference, he silently raises his hand to bless an old man with a huge vermilion mark on his forehead who is bending over Mishra's feet. "I don't know...
...Mishra knows that while the Ganges may be holy, it is not pure. It is filled with chemical wastes, sewage and even the remains of human corpses. The priest knows this because he is also head of the civil-engineering department at the local university. A hydraulics engineer, he is as comfortable discussing water-pump designs as he is giving spiritual guidance. Ever since he learned about the level of pollution in "Mother," as he calls the Ganges, Mishra, 59, has been squabbling with government authorities and pleading with other temple chiefs to clean up the river. "When I talk...
...That's awful! That's such a fun place!" saidPinki Mishra '99. "I went there many, many times...
...Mishra added, "They used to have this mangosorbet that was awesome...