Pilgrimage to tirthas, India’s sacred zones, is one of the oldest
strands of the Hindu tradition, and one of the most prominent forms of
popular piety practiced in India today. Tirthas are “crossing places”
which act as portals linking heaven and earth. There are many different
types of tirthas. There are tirthas whose sanctity is imbued in the
landscape, such as the Himalayan mountains and the Ganga river. There
are other tirthas famous as pilgrimage sites for the divine images
housed there such as the great Vishnu temple of Badrinath in North
India. Tirthas vary in importance from small shrines of local
significance to places of pan-Indian importance attracting pilgrims from
across linguistic, sectarian and regional boundaries.
Diana L. Eck, a historian of religions from Harvard University writes,
For Hindus, pilgrimage to the tirthas has been an important unifying
force, not only for sects and regions, but for the wider Hindu
perception of what constitutes the land of India. Everyone knows how
diverse India is, in race, language, religion, and sect. In its long
history there have been few centuries of political unity until modern
times. But one thing Hindu India has held in common is a shared sense of
its sacred geography.
The Term Paper on Information About States In India
Maharashtra is a state in the western region of India. It is the second most populous state after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India. Maharashtra is the wealthiest state in India, contributing 15% of the country’s industrial output and 13.3% of its GDP (2006–2007 figures). Maharashtra is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, Gujarat and the Union territory of Dadra and ...
Furthermore,
The whole of India’s sacred geography, with its many tirthas – those
inherent in its natural landscape and those sanctified by the deeds of
gods and the footsteps of heroes, is a living geography…The
recognition of India as a sacred landscape woven together north and
south, east and west, by the paths of pilgrims, has created a powerful
sense of India as Bharat Mata – Mother India. Pilgrims have
circumambulated the whole of India, visiting hundreds of tirthas along
the way, bringing water from the Ganga in the north to sprinkle the
linga at Ramesvaram in the far south and returning north with sands from
Ramesvaram to deposit in the riverbed of the Ganga (History of Religions
1981: 323-324).
One of the earliest discussions of the efficacy of a “grand tour” of
tirthas as ritual practice is found in the chapter “The Tour of Sacred
Fords” within the Indian epic poem the Mahabharata. It is suggested here
that performing pilgrimage is equal in merit to the great Vedic ritual
practice of horse sacrifices. Other texts suggest performing a
pilgrimage to the char dham, the four divine abodes residing at the four
compass points of India. These four pilgrimage places, Badrinath in the
North, Puri in the East, Ramesvaram in the South and Dwarka in the West
delineate the furthest limits of the sacred land. Pilgrimage to these
four “abodes” is called mahaparikrama, the “great circumambulation.”
Today, with the advent of modern transportation millions of people go on
pilgrimage every year and many accomplish abbreviated forms of
Pan-Indian pilgrimage tours. In the modern context pilgrimage functions
as a form of religious tourism which justifies and encourages groups of
people to travel to the great tirthas and the religious melas (fairs).
In traveling to religious festivals villagers are exposed to parts of
India they may have never seen before and are able to meet people from
diverse ethnic backgrounds. For me, this was held true when I attended
the Ganga Sagar Mela at Sagar Island near Calcutta. On a remote island
The Essay on India vs Bharat
Ancient Indians were not known to have a great sense of history. Historians have had to rely a lot on accounts by foreign travellers and foreign sources to reconstruct our history. And all such sources, including Megasethenes, Fa-hsien and many medieval Arab travellers, have uniformly found that Indians were remarkably law abiding and that crime was very rare. Most historians including A.L. Basham ...
in the mouth of the Ganga river delta over 450,000 pilgrims gathered to
pray, bathe and worship. At this festival I met pilgrims from places as
far away as Nepal, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
The photographs and stories within this website are part of a project
re-creating a pan-Indian tirtha-yatra. I am making a clockwise
circumambulation of the significant tirthas found throughout India. The
goal of this project is to photograph pilgrims in the landscape of the
tirtha and to document significant religious festivals that take place
in these locations. In traveling the width and breadth of the country a
visual record of both the sanctity and the complexity of India will be
achieved.
Pilgrimage to tirthas, India’s sacred zones, is one of the oldest
strands of the Hindu tradition, and one of the most prominent forms of
popular piety practiced in India today. Tirthas are “crossing places”
which act as portals linking heaven and earth. There are many different
types of tirthas. There are tirthas whose sanctity is imbued in the
landscape, such as the Himalayan mountains and the Ganga river. There
are other tirthas famous as pilgrimage sites for the divine images
housed there such as the great Vishnu temple of Badrinath in North
India. Tirthas vary in importance from small shrines of local
significance to places of pan-Indian importance attracting pilgrims from
across linguistic, sectarian and regional boundaries.
Diana L. Eck, a historian of religions from Harvard University writes,
For Hindus, pilgrimage to the tirthas has been an important unifying
force, not only for sects and regions, but for the wider Hindu
perception of what constitutes the land of India. Everyone knows how
diverse India is, in race, language, religion, and sect. In its long
history there have been few centuries of political unity until modern
times. But one thing Hindu India has held in common is a shared sense of
its sacred geography.
Furthermore,
The whole of India’s sacred geography, with its many tirthas – those
inherent in its natural landscape and those sanctified by the deeds of
gods and the footsteps of heroes, is a living geography…The
The Term Paper on India: Diversity
Introduction India is a huge multicultural country with different religions and different languages. The culture of India is one of the oldest and unique. In India, there is amazing cultural diversity throughout the country. Every religion has their own rituals like clothing, food and festivals. But they all live like family all over the world. India is home to some of the most ancient ...
recognition of India as a sacred landscape woven together north and
south, east and west, by the paths of pilgrims, has created a powerful
sense of India as Bharat Mata – Mother India. Pilgrims have
circumambulated the whole of India, visiting hundreds of tirthas along
the way, bringing water from the Ganga in the north to sprinkle the
linga at Ramesvaram in the far south and returning north with sands from
Ramesvaram to deposit in the riverbed of the Ganga (History of Religions
1981: 323-324).
One of the earliest discussions of the efficacy of a “grand tour” of
tirthas as ritual practice is found in the chapter “The Tour of Sacred
Fords” within the Indian epic poem the Mahabharata. It is suggested here
that performing pilgrimage is equal in merit to the great Vedic ritual
practice of horse sacrifices. Other texts suggest performing a
pilgrimage to the char dham, the four divine abodes residing at the four
compass points of India. These four pilgrimage places, Badrinath in the
North, Puri in the East, Ramesvaram in the South and Dwarka in the West
delineate the furthest limits of the sacred land. Pilgrimage to these
four “abodes” is called mahaparikrama, the “great circumambulation.”
Today, with the advent of modern transportation millions of people go on
pilgrimage every year and many accomplish abbreviated forms of
Pan-Indian pilgrimage tours. In the modern context pilgrimage functions
as a form of religious tourism which justifies and encourages groups of
people to travel to the great tirthas and the religious melas (fairs).
In traveling to religious festivals villagers are exposed to parts of
India they may have never seen before and are able to meet people from
diverse ethnic backgrounds. For me, this was held true when I attended
the Ganga Sagar Mela at Sagar Island near Calcutta. On a remote island
in the mouth of the Ganga river delta over 450,000 pilgrims gathered to
pray, bathe and worship. At this festival I met pilgrims from places as
far away as Nepal, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
The photographs and stories within this website are part of a project
The Essay on The Clean Ganga Campaign
The Ganges is the largest river in India with an extraordinary religious importance for Hindus. Along its banks are some of the world’s oldest inhabited places like Varanasi and Patna. It provides water to about 40% of India’s population in 11 states,an estimated of 500 million people or more, which is larger than any other river in the world. Today, it is considered to be sixth most ...
re-creating a pan-Indian tirtha-yatra. I am making a clockwise
circumambulation of the significant tirthas found throughout India. The
goal of this project is to photograph pilgrims in the landscape of the
tirtha and to document significant religious festivals that take place
in these locations. In traveling the width and breadth of the country a
visual record of both the sanctity and the complexity of India will be
achieved.
