The Man Who Raised His Hand… Forever

If you’re a student and you want to get a teacher’s attention, it’s easy: just raise your hand and keep it raised until called on. If you keep it up for long enough, the teacher will almost certainly give you the opportunity to share whatever is on your mind. But every so often, the teacher a bit longer than expected to recognize you. In those cases, you hold your arm up for what seems like forever. The whole exercise becomes a battle of wills (and arm strength) — can you keep your hand raised for long enough?

The answer, if Amar Bharati is any evidence, is yes. He raised his hand in 1973 and hasn’t put it down since.

Let’s start with a picture, via Unilad:

As of 1970, Bharati was working as a bank clerk in New Delhi, India, “living a modest life with his wife and three children,” according to History of Yesterday. But in 1973, he had a religious awakening and decided to spend the rest of his life demonstrating his devotion to Shiva, the Hindu deity. He left his wife, friends, and family behind and decided to practice asceticism, a lifestyle where you pursue a spiritual or religious goal by abstaining from doing something generally considered a world pleasure. In Bharati’s case, using your right arm like you normally would is that “worldly pleasure” — he decided to keep it raised, as seen above, as his unique form of ascetic abstinence.

And he never stopped. Bharati believes that his gesture is more than just an act of faith, but also one that will encourage others to act peacefully toward one another. As he explained in an interview (via History Defined), “I don’t ask for much. Why do we fight between us? Why is there so much hate and enmity between us? I want all Indians to live in peace. I want the whole world to live in peace.”

The effort, though, has come at a significant cost to Bharati. The first two years of the effort were difficult, per Unilad, as Bharati was “in excruciating pain [ . . . ] until his arm lost feeling and his muscles wilted.” Today, according to Greek Reporter, Bharati “can no longer bend his arm, as it is now merely a bony structure, and his nails have turned into spiraling claws.”

But Bharati is probably fine with that. For him, keeping his hand raised is part of a larger calling — despite the cost.

Bonus fact: During the first few decades of the modern Olympics, participants would pay respect to the Olympic colors by doing something called the “Olympic salute.” The salute, seen here memorialized by a sculpture outside the site of the 1928 Games in the Netherlands, looked a lot like the Nazi salute used during World War II. As a result, you won’t see the Olympic salute used anymore — it fell out of favor shortly after the war.

From the Archives: Pledging Allegiance: When pledging allegiance to the American flag involved raising one’s right arm to the sky — in a manner that wouldn’t be acceptable today for the same reason as the Olympic salute is no longer in use.