Salvific space is one of the central ideas in the Hindu traditions of pilgrimage, and concerns the ability of space, especially sites associated with bodies of water such as rivers and lakes, to grant salvific rewards. Focusing on religious, historical and sociological questions about the phenomenon, this book investigates the narratives, rituals, history and structures of salvific space, and looks at how it became a central feature of Hinduism. Arguing that salvific power of place became a major dimension of Hinduism through a development in several stages, the book analyses the historical process of how salvific space and pilgrimage in the Hindu tradition developed. It discusses how the traditions of salvific space exemplify the decentred polycentrism that defines Hinduism. The book uses original data from field research, as well as drawing on main textual sources such as Mahābhārata, the Purāṇas, the medieval digests on pilgrimage places (tīrthas), and a number of Sthalapurāṇas and Māhātmyas praising the salvific power of the place. By looking at some of the contradictions in and challenges to the tradition of Hindu salvific space in history and in contemporary India, the book is a useful study on Hinduism and South Asian Studies.

Salvific space is one of the central ideas in the Hindu traditions of pilgrimage, and concerns the ability of space, especially sites associated with bodies of water such as rivers and lakes, to grant salvific rewards. Focusing on religious, historical and sociological questions about the phenomenon, this book investigates the narratives, rituals, history and structures of salvific space, and looks at how it became a central feature of Hinduism. Arguing that salvific power of place became a major dimension of Hinduism through a development in several stages, the book analyses the historical process of how salvific space and pilgrimage in the Hindu tradition developed. It discusses how the traditions of salvific space exemplify the decentred polycentrism that defines Hinduism. The book uses original data from field research, as well as drawing on main textual sources such as Mahābhārata, the Purāṇas, the medieval digests on pilgrimage places (tīrthas), and a number of Sthalapurāṇas and Māhātmyas praising the salvific power of the place. By looking at some of the contradictions in and challenges to the tradition of Hindu salvific space in history and in contemporary India, the book is a useful study on Hinduism and South Asian Studies.

The book discusses in detail Chaar Dhaam, Himalayan Chaar Dhaam, Sapt Puri, Dwadash Jyotirlingam, Panch Sarovar, Sapt Sarita, Divya Desam, Shakti Peetha, Yatras and also some of the famous temples in India. Enhanced with vivid and exclusive pictures, the book brings the places alive and inspires one to make a pilgrimage to these holy shrines. #v&spublishers

"Dr. Bhardwaj's in-depth study of the various aspects of the institution of pilgrimage shows that instead of being a simple practice it has been a gigantic phenomenon affecting all aspects of Indian life. . . integrating diverse forces, various cults, and numerous traditions over the ages."--Asian Student "This is the best general survey of a major religion's total pilgrimage system and the best intensive investigation of one of its subsystems. . . . Dr. Bhardwaj's book is an important step towards the recognition of a social phenomenon which has for millennia played a crucial role in the integration of religions, nationalities, and international communities. And, not least importantly, it is highly readable."--Journal of the American Academy of Religion "Detailed, accurate, and generally informative; he has succeeded in tracing, for the first time, the relationship of the rank-order or 'level' of a sacred place. . . to its degree of sanctity, type of deity, and caste and motivation of the pilgrim. . . .The implications of Mr. Bhardwaj's study are profound and necessary to the understanding of Indian religion. . . it is fascinating."--Times Literary Supplement "Here is a fine example of what the geographic study of India needs: disciplined work that shows full awareness of Indian cultural meanings. . . .it sets a worth standard."--Professional Geographer

In this book, Jürgen Schaflechner examines the political and cultural influences at work at the most influential Hindu pilgrimage site in Pakistan, Hinglaj Devi. The unique character of this pilgrimage site and its modern importance not only for Hindus, but also for Muslims and Sindhi nationalists, brings to the fore the lives of Hindu minorities in the Islamic Republic.

Illustrations: 4 Maps Description: The book outlines the origin and development of the practice of pilgrimage in India between AD 300 and 1200 and draws extensively on epigraphic and literary data particularly the Puranic corpus to delineate the growing popularity of the ritual, spatially and chronologically. Viewing religion as part of the social process, it seeks to explore linkages between new religious trends and changes taking place in the material conditions of life. Although there are a few references to pilgrimage centres in inscriptions of the early second century, the number of these destinations rapidly multiplied from the fourth-fifth centuries, coinciding meaningfully with widespread decay and desertion of urban places. In an age of political disintegration and social insularity religious congregations served as the nucleus of cultural bonding. Alongside of decaying towns cult-sites relating to forests, hill tracts, deserts, river banks, sea-coasts, crossroads all surfaced as pilgrimage centres of some sort, with an attendant increase in the number of myths and legends sanctifying these places with the emergence of temple as the focal point of social processes, even large villages and marginal political centres also emerged as places of pilgrimage. A thrust area of the ritual was the changing nature of the gift-exchange system. Gifts, largely agricultural goods and inputs during the Gupta and post-Gupta times were necessary if one wished to acquire religious merit and drive away the impurities of deeds and thoughts entailing loss of social status. Charities, performed at the sacred places, were considered all the more beneficial. The idea, that religious merit ensured a comfortable afterlife and that dying in places sanctified by gods and god-men brought instant religious merit, encouraged the practice of committing self-immolation at the holiest of pilgrimage centres.

From the Great Panathenaea of ancient Greece to the hajj of today, people of all religions and cultures have made sacred journeys to confirm their faith and their part in a larger identity. This book is a fascinating guide through the vast and varied cultural territory such pilgrimages have covered across the ages. The first book to look at the phenomenon and experience of pilgrimage through the multiple lenses of history, religion, sociology, anthropology, and art history, this sumptuously illustrated volume explores the full richness and range of sacred travel as it maps the cultural imagination. The authors consider pilgrimage as a physical journey through time and space, but also as a metaphorical passage resonant with meaning on many levels. It may entail a ritual transformation of the pilgrim's inner state or outer status; it may be a quest for a transcendent goal; it may involve the healing of a physical or spiritual ailment. Through folktales, narratives of the crusades, and the firsthand accounts of those who have made these journeys; through descriptions and pictures of the rituals, holy objects, and sacred architecture they have encountered, as well as the relics and talismans they have carried home, Pilgrimage evokes the physical and spiritual landscape these seekers have traveled. In its structure, the book broadly moves from those religions--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--that cohere around a single canonical text to those with a multiplicity of sacred scriptures, like Hinduism and Buddhism. Juxtaposing the different practices and experiences of pilgrimage in these contexts, this book reveals the common structures and singular features of sacred travel from ancient times to our own.

In Narmadāparikramā. Circumambulation of the Narmadā River Jürgen Neuss offers for the first time a comprehensive study of the Narmadāparikramā, a singular Hindu pilgrimage, which comprises the complete circumambulation of the Central Indian river Narmadā. Following a brief general introduction, the first part of the book comprises a text-historical analysis of the Sanskrit texts which are traditionally regarded as the basis for this rite. The second part represents a synoptic translation of two modern pilgrims’ handbooks in Hindi, which link the mythological place names of the Sanskrit texts with actual geographical locations. Part three consists of synopses of available Sanskrit source texts, and the concluding part summarizes the many-fold findings and results of the study in thematically arranged maps.