Pilgrimage

Many Indians go on tīrthayātrās (pilgrimages) to sacred places (tīrthas). It's not just a trip for the body but also an inner journey, with its own rules of behaviour.

The word tīrtha literally means a place where you can cross a river. As a symbol, it's where you cross over from everyday life to a higher, spiritual life.

For at least 3,000 years, with no buses, trains or planes, Indians have criss-crossed the Subcontinent on pilgrimage. So the whole land came to be seen as sacred.

In 1961 Nehru said: from Badrinath, Kedarnath and Amarnath in the snowy Himalayas to Kanyakumari in the south, what drew people north and south on these journeys was "the feeling of one country and one culture."

The historian Dharampal once met about twelve villagers on a train from Gwalior to Delhi. They came from north of Lucknow and were coming back from a three-month pilgrimage to Rameswaram, carrying their own atta, ghee and sugar. Stopping in Delhi? "No, we only change trains there. We're going to Haridwar! No time!" The capital was just a place to change trains!

Jain tīrthas are where Tīrthankaras (literally, 'those who make a crossing', guides from ordinary to higher life) found liberation or where big events in their lives happened. Trees, ponds, hills where they meditated are sacred too: e.g. Mount Abu, Girnar and Śhatruñjaya hill (Gujarat).

Sabarimala temple (Kerala), of the deity Ayyappa, draws over ten million devotees a year. It used to be reached only by a very hard trek through hills and forests. Why do so many temples sit on hilltops? Not to test who climbs fastest! The hard climb stands for the hard inner path: you get tired, rest, keep going because you can see the goal. Landmarks along the way are sacred too.

The Pandharpur wārī in Maharashtra is 800 years old. Wārī means a pilgrimage held regularly, here every year. Pilgrims walk together for 21 days to the Vithoba temple.