The Mandala Room

Devcon 8 Music Sanctuary · Mumbai · 3–6 November 2026

Four days in one hall. On Tuesday it was an empty room: cane stools, drums on rugs, and a mandala of light on the wall. By Friday night it had held jams and singers, a lamp lit for Dhanteras, a storm of confetti, and a dance floor under the same mandala. Here are 35 frames from the official Devcon 8 photos, in the order the room lived them.

🦋 The butterflies are our love letter to Ethereum and to everyone who sat down in the circle.

Link

Keys: ← → to move, P to pause or play, S to shuffle. On a phone, swipe. Every frame has its own link (#1 to #35).

IBefore the first note

Tuesday 3 November · Day 1

The hall is empty. Cane stools stand in a circle, drums wait on Persian rugs, guitars lean on their stands, and a mandala of light already glows on the wall. Across the venue, the opening day's stage holds the first music of the week.

A wide, empty hall with a glowing white mandala projected on the far wall. Cane stools, white chairs and standing tables are set out on the carpet.
1Day 1, before the doors open: the Music Sanctuary hall, empty, with the mandala already glowing on the far wall.
Round cane stools with dark cushions arranged in a circle on the carpet, with instruments, a screen and the glowing mandala behind them.
2Cane stools in a circle, waiting for their listeners.
Close view of two dhol drums and other drums lying on a red Persian rug, with guitars, ukuleles and a drum kit on stands behind, under the mandala.
3Dhols and barrel drums on a Persian rug, with guitars and ukuleles on their stands.
Two musicians sit cross-legged on a rug in front of an ornate patterned backdrop: one plays tabla in a purple kurta, the other a red electric guitar. A banner above names them.
4On the opening day's stage: tabla by Dhaivat Mehta and electric guitar by Aniket Gundewar, as the banner above them reads.
Close-up of hands playing a pair of tabla drums. The player wears a purple kurta and sits cross-legged on a rug.
5The tabla, up close (Dhaivat Mehta, as named on the stage banner).
A small band plays in front of a screen showing a mandala: a saxophonist in a white cap and a pink and blue floral shirt, a bass player, and a singer at a microphone.
6The first sound in the sanctuary area: saxophone, bass and voices, with a mandala on the screen beside them.

IIThe jams

Wednesday 4 – Friday 6 November · Days 2–4

The room fills. People rest on beanbags and the floor, players drift in and out, and the circle keeps changing shape. Singers in a saree and a kurta, saxophones in floral shirts, laughter over the hand drums.

The mandala, reflected in a pane of glass, floats over people lounging on red beanbags in pink and blue light.
7Day 2: the mandala reflected in glass, over people resting in the sanctuary.
A smiling man seen through a glass panel that carries the reflection of a glowing Ethereum diamond logo.
8Somewhere in the venue, a smile through a neon Ethereum diamond.
A long-haired, bearded musician in a light denim jacket plays ukulele at a microphone, next to a guitarist in a plaid shirt.
9A ukulele and a guitar at the sanctuary microphones.
A wide view of the sanctuary stage: a saxophonist and a guitarist stand on rugs among keyboards, drums and microphones, with the mandala projected high on the wall.
10Day 3: saxophone and guitar on the rug stage, with keys, cajón and dhol around them and the mandala overhead.
A guitarist in sunglasses and purple sings into a microphone, framed by the glowing mandala above him.
11Singing under the mandala.
A wide shot of a jam session: musicians in the centre on rugs, an audience sitting around them on cane stools, beanbags and the floor, with neon pyramid lights and the mandala above.
12A full circle: musicians in the middle, and listeners on cane stools, beanbags and the floor, between glowing neon pyramids.
A woman in a white saree smiles as she sings into a microphone. Behind her are a seated guitarist, a rack of ukuleles and a djembe.
13A singer in a white saree, smiling at the mic, with ukuleles and a djembe behind her.
Seen from behind the performers: a singer in a teal kurta, a seated guitarist and a singer in a white saree face a large audience sitting on the floor.
14From behind the players, looking out: the hall sits down to listen.
A smiling bass player in a patterned shirt plays under pink light, with a saxophonist behind him.
15Day 4: bass and saxophone in the afternoon jam.
Three guitarists, one smiling with an acoustic guitar, play together, with the shoulder of a singer blurred in the foreground.
16Guitars, three across, with a singer in the foreground.
A long-haired, bearded man in a white kurta and a red scarf laughs as he plays hand drums opposite another drummer.
17Laughter on the hand drums.
Two saxophonists in caps and bold floral shirts play side by side in the sanctuary.
18Two saxophones in floral shirts.
Close-up of hands playing a djembe, with microphones and colourful light around it.
19Hands on a djembe.

IIIThe closing

Friday 6 November, evening · Dhanteras

On the last night the sanctuary becomes the hall for the closing ceremony. The whole room sits on the floor around the instrument circle. A brass lamp is lit for Dhanteras, the first day of Diwali. Then come the confetti, and dancing under the same mandala that watched the empty room on Tuesday.

A huge hall in red light. A band plays in the centre on rugs while hundreds of people sit on the floor all around them.
20The sanctuary becomes the closing-ceremony hall: the band in the middle, the whole room sitting on the floor.
Seen from behind a pianist and a singer: the band and a vast audience seated on the floor under red lights and a patterned ceiling.
21Piano, voices and strings, seen from behind, facing everyone.
A performer in a white T-shirt, seen from behind, faces a large audience sitting on the floor of a blue-lit hall.
22A performer faces the crowd under blue light.
A singer in a white T-shirt sings with full voice into a microphone, with a bass guitarist, a saxophone and a guitarist in white around him.
23A singer belting into the mic, with bass and saxophone beside him.
A long-haired, bearded man in a white kurta and patterned scarf plays ukulele at a microphone, next to a saxophonist in a blue cap and floral shirt and a pair of congas.
24Ukulele, saxophone and congas, in white and in flowers.
Two saxophonists in floral shirts play standing on a rug, with a screen behind them.
25Two saxophones on the rug stage.
On stage, a person in a balloon hat dances with a woman in a floral skirt. A ukulele and guitars stand nearby and a screen glows behind them.
26Dancing on stage: a balloon hat, a floral skirt, ukulele and guitars on their stands.
A long line of people in matching olive-green jackets stands arm in arm across the stage, beneath the mandala.
27The team in matching jackets, arm in arm under the mandala.
On stage under the mandala, people gather around a tall brass oil lamp as it is lit, one holding a microphone.
28Dhanteras, the first day of Diwali: the brass lamp is lit.
Close view of a man and a woman lighting the wicks of a tall brass lamp, with the mandala on the wall behind them.
29Flame to wick.
Silver and pink confetti pours over a smiling crowd sitting on the floor, many holding up phones.
30Then the confetti.
A grinning man in a cap and tie-dye top leans back on the floor as confetti falls all around him and the crowd.
31Lying back in it.
A packed dance floor with hands raised in the haze, light beams, and the mandala projected on the wall above.
32Hands up in the haze, under the same mandala that watched the empty room on Day 1.
A crowd with hands in the air fills the floor of a hall washed in purple light, with the mandala glowing high on the wall.
33Purple light, the mandala, and a full floor.
Three people in green jackets shout and grin into the camera under blue light, arms raised.
34Shouting for joy.
People in green jackets hug and laugh together on a dark dance floor.
35Hugs at the end of the night.

🦋 Road to Lisbon

The next room is in Lisbon: Devcon 9, 11–13 October 2027. Portugal is where the ukulele's story begins. The little machete of Madeira sailed to Hawaiʻi on the Ravenscrag in 1879.

🦋 Two hangouts to look back together

On Thursday 12 November there are two optional video hangouts, at two times so that most time zones get one. Come to either, both, or neither. Bring a memory from the room, a song, or just yourself.

Hangout A

  • Los Angeles
  • India Thu 12 Nov, 11:06 PM
  • Bangkok Fri 13 Nov, 12:36 AM
  • Lisbon Thu 12 Nov, 5:36 PM
  • New York Thu 12 Nov, 12:36 PM

Hangout B

  • Los Angeles
  • India Fri 13 Nov, 12:41 PM
  • Bangkok Fri 13 Nov, 2:11 PM
  • Lisbon Fri 13 Nov, 7:11 AM
  • New York Fri 13 Nov, 2:11 AM

The call links go privately to the people we invite. Want one? Write to [email protected] and we will send it.

📸 Credit and takedown

📸 Official Devcon 8 photos by the Devcon team's photographers. The full set is here: Devcon 8 photos (Google Drive).

See yourself and want it down? Tell us at [email protected] and it comes down. No questions asked; see also our takedown page.

We only name people whose names are printed in the frame itself (the tabla and guitar banner). Everyone else is described, not identified. The images here are resized copies with their metadata removed.