Kumbh Mela
Alahabad, India
A sadhu sits in the crowds of the Kumbh Mela, the worlds' largest gathering. This Mela boasted 14 million pilgrims gathered on one river bank. The sadhu lives off of offerings from pilgrims. His vermillion forehead indicates he is a follower of Vishnu.
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Vidyanath writes:
A typical Vishnu devotee wears a design as seen on another sadhu's forhead in the picture. This sadhu's mark means the same only the red part is more.
samadhi writes:
Only a clarification: Sadhus devoted to Vishnu put the white marks across their forhead going vertically. Those who are into Shiva, put the lines horizontally across their forheads. It makes it look like the 3 pronged trident that is the symbold of Shiva. This is how one can tell who they are followers of, either Vishnu or Shiva.