It took simply a week on the East Coast in the brutal, blistering cold of New York’s never-ending winter to realize that I had taken the January weather of West India for granted. It was in those warm, sunny days that we were fortunate enough to receive a cultural and historical tour of Gujarat. Religious tales and the stories behind the religious sites have always fascinated me, ever since I was a kid and my grandmother would tell me tales of Islamic Imams and prophets. Yet, as fascinating and intricate as the stories in West India happened to be, the powerful beauty of the religious sites we visited could not be captured through my photographic lens.

With our cultural guides, we visited Jain and Hindu temples and Muslim mosques. Each column, each row, everything in every individual place we visited had its own unique story to tell. For me, it was astounding to think of all the work having gone into each square inch of the multiple ancient structures we saw. Many of these structures have remained in great conditions, considering their religious significance and the heated atmosphere these structures sometimes stir between communal groups. A temple in ruins for me was such a travesty, for if we take a second to think of the work gone into these temples and structures all before many of the contemporary tools available today. It highlights the incredibly powerful motivation behind those working to build these temples. For some, it may seem silly. To work so arduously on a structure to honor a presence one cannot see or touch. But for those with religious convictions, these structures represent more than just a home to honor the Gods. It feels like a visual representation of a faith worth their sweat, tears and blood.