Photos in Temples in India: ask first
Photography and ancient temples seem to go hand in hand, because a photographer with a good eye can capture so much essential artistry while shooting pictures of one of India’s old sacred temples. Close-ups reveal the fine attention to hand carved detail, long shots explore the awe inspiring size of the temples that must have required so much labor to build, and interior shots allow one a glimpse of a mysterious, almost secretive world that is the refuge of sages, mystics, and devotees.
But some of the old school practitioners of these religions - the fundamentalists if you will - consider it an intrusion for a non-devotee to enter a sacred space. Even in those temples where you may be invited with open minds and arms, there are very old superstitions at play that involve photos. After all, photography is a rather recent invention, especially for people who live in a place that resembles medieval times in terms of culture and consumer goods. Many devotees believe that if you photograph the gods in their temples, you steal the spirit of the god. Beware. Many innocent photographers who were simply sightseeing have been physically attacked in order to “save a god from being stolen” by a tourist. And countless tourists have at least been the subject of embarrassment and verbal abuse because they failed to follow the local code of never entering a temple with a camera around the neck.