Geography of Hindu Pilgrimage Places (Tīrthas) in India

Abstract

Hindu pilgrimage, Tīrtha-yātrā, is a liminal process that establishes participation in the spiritual realm, associated with the sacred land. It engages with sacredscapes that are partly defined by the material world but rather more strongly by sacred symbols, cosmogonic and cultural astronomy, traditions, festivals, and the belief that these places are spiritual crossing places into the transcendent realms of the divine. India’s geography may be conceived as a ‘faithscape’, a nested series of pilgrimage places and their hinterlands. Topographically, pilgrimage places may be classified into three groups: (i) water sites usually associated with sacred immersion on auspicious occasions, (ii) shrines dedicated to particular deities, which are visited by pilgrims of particular sects or with particular needs, and (iii) Kshetra, sacred territory, usually defined by an archetypal mandala, travelling along which brings special merit. This chapter discusses the functioning, importance, and role of Hindu pilgrimages, concerning historical context (e.g. religious texts and their uses), contemporary situation, and the prospects on the line of sustainability and pilgrimage tourism, initiated by the government, e.g. PRASHAD, ‘Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive’. This mission aims to fulfil one of the Sustainable Development Goals that refers to the ‘integrated development of pilgrimage destinations in planned, prioritised and sustainable manner’. This chapter synthesises all our previous works (1980–2023) in the systemic form. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.