A sacred geography

Sacred places are spread all over India, but they're also linked together, like a network on the map.

Some Hindus hope to do the chār dhām yātrā, and the four sites sit in India's four corners:

Visit all four and you've crossed almost the whole country!

Others hope to visit the 12 jyotirlingas, sacred shrines of Śhiva, each with its own story and name.

The 51 Shakti pīṭhas cover the whole map of India, even parts of today's Bangladesh and Pakistan. There are many more regional networks too. Criss-crossing the land, they make a sacred geography, and so the land itself becomes sacred.

The story of the Shakti pīṭhas: Satī (the divine mother, Shakti) and her husband Śhiva were insulted by her father. In anger, Satī gave up her life in fire. Śhiva, furious, carried her body and refused the last rites. His anger put the whole world in danger, so Viṣhṇu used his chakra to cut her body. The pīṭhas are where the pieces fell, one by one. The meaning: the whole land is the body of the divine mother.

On their way, pilgrims met different languages, customs, clothes and foods, but also noticed what they shared.

Others travelled too: traders to exchange goods, thinkers to debate and spread ideas, students to learn from great teachers. Their routes often met. People swapped goods, stories and arguments; new ideas were born and old ones changed. Over centuries this helped knit the Subcontinent's cultures together.