Religious Tourism in Hinduism | Indian Pilgrimages

Most Hindus undertake a variety of pilgrimages at least once during their lifetimes. While this is not a binding religious requirement, the laissez faire approach to religion as a way of life ensures that most Hinduism practitioners self-undertake these visits.

Hindu Pilgrimages in India can be broadly classified into four distinct types. These include:

• Circuits
• Melas
• Holy Cities and
• Temple Towns

In this post, we will attempt to understand how these pilgrimages continue to contribute to religious Tourism within India - namely the Domestic push.

Circuits

• Himalayan Char Dham: The Himalayan towns of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Ganotri and Yamunotri.
• Traditional Char Dham: The four holy towns of Puri, Rameshwaram, Dwaraka and Badrinath (primarily a Vishanavite circuit)
• Jyothirlingas: A circuit of temples where Lord Shiva is worshiped in the form of shiva lingas. there are 12 Jyothirlingas in India.
• Shakti Peethas: This is a circuit that caters to worshipers of the Mother Goddess. There are altogether 51 Shalti Peethas.

There are a few other circuits of varying destinations which attract their own set of followers. Most Hindus undertake one or more of these pilgrimages at least once during their lifetime.

Melas

The Khumb Mela is one of the holiest of Hindu pilgrimages. It is held every three years in rotation among the cities of Allahabad, Haridwar, Nashik and Ujjain.

Holy Cities

Varanasi, Allahabad, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mathura, Vrindavan and Ayodhya are the holy Hindu cities as defined in the Puranas. Each of these cities has a strong association to Hinduism and may house several renowned temples and ashrams making them ideal places for religious immersion travel.

Temple Towns

There are a number of destinations which are primarily known for being temple towns. They attract their own following. These include Puri for the Jagannath Temple and Rath Yatra, Katra, home to Viashno Devi, Shirdi, home of Sai Baba, Tirumala, home of Tirupati Venkateshwara and Sabarimala, home of Lord Ayyappa. These temple towns typically have a primary deity housed in the main temple and may often have their own mini-circuits or related deities.

Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra

The Government of India is well aware of the potential of religious tourism and has initiated pilot programs to facilitate travel to and from these destinations. For the time being, respective State Tourism Departments facilitate religious Tourism. While this often makes journey within the state easy, there is little or no coordination among cross-state destinations. This requires a central push to iron out by developing models of coordination between various states involved in a single circuit.

We will discuss more about the specific problems plaguing the Religious Tourism industry in India in another post!

Disclaimer: Being a practicing Hindu, I am more familiar with Hindu Religious Tourism! However, in future posts, I will attempt to research and present pilgrimage circuits and destination catering to the other religions in India as well.