With a sea of yellow in their arms and flowers in a fist, they move ahead. Prayers are sometimes spoken, and otherwise, sung. The singsong march is part of an all-day celebration of Basant at Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia’s shrine; it doesn’t pause for the camera. We know the documenter has snuck these frames out of motion. As the photographer keeps pace with musicians in The Yellow Chadar of Basant,  we are reminded of an opulent dream — only more saturated. Who is the subject, though? The qawwals. Qawwals exist in their element at dargahs.

An Untold Story by Dinesh Khanna lets us into The Qawwali Photo Project through a chink. Visual data from the recently concluded photo exhibition at India International Centre, Delhi, is now available on Google Arts & Culture. It marks the beginning of qawwali’s awaited journey in academia.