How the Land Becomes Sacred
What is sacredness?
Think about what makes a place or a thing sacred.
Sacredness can mean many things. In this chapter it means: something of deep religious or spiritual meaning, worthy of respect, holy or divine.
What can be sacred? A special place or shrine. A special journey (a pilgrimage). The route that journey takes. Even the land it crosses! Think of the path up to Vaishno Devi, walked while singing bhajans: not only the temple, the path feels sacred too.
So sacredness is linked not only to religion, but to geography and traditions as well.
Three useful words:
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| pilgrimage | a journey to a sacred place important in a religion |
| shrine | a place seen as holy because of its link with the divine, a relic or a spiritual figure |
| relic | part of a saint's body, or something they owned, kept with deep respect |
Almost every faith in India has its sacred places, including Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism, which began outside India. People of other faiths visit them too, as at the Dargah Sharif of Ajmer (Rajasthan) and the Velankanni Church (Tamil Nadu).
Buddhism: places the Buddha visited or where his relics are kept, like the Great Stūpa at Sanchi (a relic stūpa) and the Mahabodhi Stūpa at Bodh Gaya (Bihar), where he is said to have found enlightenment. Bodh Gaya gets over four million visitors a year!
Sikhism: takhts are seats of spiritual authority, like Takht Sri Patna Sahib, the Akal Takht (part of the Golden Temple, Amritsar) and Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib (Anandpur). Sikhs hope to visit them at least once in life. Sikh tradition also records Gurus like Guru Nanak visiting Haridwar, Prayag, Mathura, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Puri and more, and a few Muslim shrines too.
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