Rambles into Sacred Realms book cover, featuring a painting of the ghats of Varanasi
Text & Artwork by Krish V. Krishnan

Rambles into Sacred Realms

Journeys in Pen & Paint

A chronicle of thirty years of travel to the world's most awe-inspiring sacred places — the rocky red desert of Petra, the funeral pyres of Varanasi, the tree-strangled temples of Angkor — told through essays and original artwork in scratchboard, watercolor, acrylic, pencil, and pastel.

12Chapters
12Countries
100Artworks
30Years of Travel
Buy on Amazon Shanti Arts Publishing

Hardcover ISBN 978-1-941830-13-0 · Softcover ISBN 978-1-941830-92-5

"Truly a magical achievement and a gift to us all." Martin Gray · Photographer, National Geographic
"This is a book in which to steep your soul." Rabbi Rami Shapiro · Author, The Angelic Way
"Open Rambles into Sacred Realms whenever you need to connect with marrying human curiosity and attention with nature's beauty and mystery." Sharon Salzberg · New York Times best-selling author of Lovingkindness
"A beautiful, poignant, and soul-nourishing collection of quiet essays and skillfully rendered sketches . . . a kind of sacred holiday for the inquiring spirit." Phyllis Tickle · Compiler, The Divine Hours
"An enchanting experience — the text comes alive with color and detail . . . Krish V. Krishnan has done something beautiful — finding treasures through his experience and passing them on in word and image." Philip Carr-Gomm · Author, Sacred Places
"What an odyssey! Nimble storytelling, illustrated with elegant drawings and paintings, this book welcomes us into the heart of the world." Mirabai Starr · Author, God of Love
"Through this stunning book, Krish invites us to take a spiritual journey to the world's most iconic and inspiring sacred sites . . . we not only learn about what it means to be divine, but also what it means to be human." Varun Soni, Ph.D. · Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California
"Brings us both the passionate feelings of a bona fide pilgrim and absolutely lovely paintings of the holy places." Martin Gray · Photographer, National Geographic
From the Book

Seven of twelve realms.

Each chapter pairs travel essays with the artwork they inspired — sketched on riverbanks and temple steps, finished in the studio. A glimpse of what's inside.

Scratchboard artwork of the entrance to Actun Tunichil Muknal cave, with a capuchin monkey in the foliage
Should I or Should I Not?: At the Entrance to the Cave · Scratchboard, 9 × 12
Belize ❖ Actun Tunichil Muknal

Secrets from a Scary Underworld

"The Maya people, like many other cultures, used caves as gateways to a holy netherworld… Hundreds of years later, I struggled through this same cave, feeling with every step its gloomy and sinister past."
Swimming, scrambling, and climbing into the Maya underworld — with two kids in tow.
Acrylic painting of a giant spung tree with roots engulfing the temple of Ta Prohm at Angkor
Too Close for Comfort: Spung Tree at Ta Prohm · Acrylic on paper, 16 × 20
Cambodia ❖ Angkor

Where Trees Hold the Temples

"Everywhere I looked, I saw tall silk cotton trees holding the secrets of ancient shrines in a viselike grip… Their roots seemed to have a life of their own as they reached out to anything that stood still."
Walking in the footsteps of explorer Henri Mahout through the tree-strangled ruins.
Acrylic painting of the fiery volcanic firepit of Halema'uma'u, home of the goddess Pele
The Firepit of Halema'uma'u · Acrylic on paper, 12 × 16
United States ❖ Hawaii

In the Red Rage of Pele

"Worshippers were spellbound by the cataclysmic might of the goddess Pele as she bursts out in red rage from her volcanic abode in Hawaii."
Fire, legend, and renewal on the Big Island — divine destruction of the old, bringing in the new.
Vivid acrylic painting of pilgrims and color at Kedar Ghat on the Ganges in Varanasi
A Riot of Color: Kedar Ghat · Acrylic on hardboard, 16 × 20
India ❖ Varanasi

Two Weeks Above Kedar Ghat

"For two weeks, my family and I lodged in a decrepit ashram squished into one of the winding lanes above Kedar Ghat… As one of the thwarted parties remarked, 'It takes me right there!'"
The holy city where sacred chants waft in the breeze — and this painting, exhibited with a Not for Sale sticker, still draws pleading offers.
Conté crayon drawing of two camels along the Colonnaded Street in Petra, Jordan
Two Camels: Along the Colonnaded Street · Conté crayon, 11 × 14
Jordan ❖ Petra

Six Hours into the Rose City

"I had hiked for nearly six hours, often stopping for my son, Anish, who was accidentally administered a shot of nighttime cold medicine in the morning."
The rocky red desert of Petra — ruins, shrines, palaces, and tombs, rendered in sanguine crayon.
Watercolor of the pyramids of Giza glowing at sunset
Hunting for a Shark: Sunset at Giza · Watercolor, 12 × 16
Egypt ❖ Giza

Sunset, a Sphinx, and a Missing Shark

"I ended up — unbelievably enough — at a Pizza Hut with a commanding view of the Great Sphinx and the Pyramids… In the middle of this melee, I noticed the sun going down."
A five-year-old's lost toy shark, a family standoff, and the light of a lifetime over the pyramids.
Conté crayon drawing of the elephant procession encircling the stupa of Wat Sorasak, Sukhothai
Elephant Procession, Wat Sorasak · Conté crayon, 14 × 17
Thailand ❖ Sukhothai

A Masterpiece in a Deserted Shrine

"I was walking in the central part of the Sukhothai Historical Park when I chanced upon this masterpiece in the deserted shrine of Wat Sorasak."
Temples, monuments, and watchful statues of Buddha as far as the eye can see.

Five more realms await inside.

Guatemala's Tikal, the Holy Land, the Oracle's Delphi, Chichen Itza, and more — twelve chapters of adventure, drama, and bits of humor, in words and paint.

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