What is ‘Sacredness’?

• Sacredness = finding something of deep religious or spiritual significance — worthy of respect and reverence, holy or divine.
• The word has many meanings; in this chapter it is used in this limited sense only.
• What is this ‘something’? It can be:
  • A special location or shrine that stirs deep feelings, high thoughts or emotions
  • A journey of a special kind — often called a pilgrimage
  • The route that the journey takes
  • Even the very land covered on the way
• So sacredness is connected not only with religion and spirituality, but also with geography and all sorts of traditions — and in India, with something more.
• Almost every school of thought and religion in India has its own sacred places.

Sacred places of religions that began outside India

• Four religions that originated outside India but have sacred places here: Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism.
• People visit or congregate in these places for prayer and worship.
• Followers of other faiths also visit them — for example:
  • Dargah Sharif of Ajmer (Rajasthan)
  • Velankanni Church (Tamil Nadu)
• People go on pilgrimages to these shrines on special occasions.

Sacred sites of religions that began in India

• Religions that originated in India have many more sacred sites.

Pilgrimages

• Many Indians undertake tīrthayātrās — pilgrimages to various sacred sites (tīrthas) during their lifetime.
• This tradition is ancient and continuous.
• A pilgrimage is two things at once:
  • A physical journey across the land
  • An inner journey that requires a specified code of conduct
• For at least 3,000 years, with no modern means of transportation, Indians have been crisscrossing the Subcontinent.
• Result: the entire geography of India came to be considered sacred.

Two famous pilgrimages

More sacred sites

• Hindu and many folk and tribal belief systems go further than sacred buildings alone.
• As learnt in Grade 6, such belief systems regard elements of Nature as sacred — mountains, rivers, trees, plants, animals, and sometimes stones too.
• In Hinduism this includes countless geographical sites or features of Nature:
  • Specific mountains, rivers and forests regarded as particularly divine and worshipped as deities
  • Many rivers regarded as devīs (goddesses)
  • Some species of trees, animals and plants are particularly holy
• This tradition comes from the perception of a divine presence in all of Nature.
• Ultimately the whole of planet Earth is considered sacred — she is Mother Earth, or Bhūdevī.
• Belur temple (Karnataka) carving: Viṣhṇu in the form of his boar avatar crushes a demon and saves Bhūdevī, shown sitting on his elbow.

Becoming Aware of Sacred Geography

• Sacred places are spread all over India — but they are also interconnected.
• Some Hindus aspire to do the chār dhām yātrā. Those four sites appear to have been deliberately located in the southern, northern, eastern and western corners of India.
• A similar aspiration exists for the 12 jyotirlingas, considered highly auspicious.
• The 51 Shakti pīṭhas cover the entire map of India — even parts of present-day Bangladesh and Pakistan.
• There are many more regional networks besides these.
• These networks crisscross India’s length and breadth, creating a sacred geography.
• As a result, the land itself becomes sacred.

The story of the 51 Shakti pīṭhas

Why did people travel such long distances?

• Though people travelled for different purposes, their routes often converged.
• Pilgrims naturally covered the geography of India. Along the way they met diverse languages, customs, clothing and foods — but noticed the commonalities too.
• Discussions and debates, and the sharing of goods, experiences and tales, enriched everyone.
• New ideas emerged, and old ones were adapted.
• This complex process became a major factor in the cultural integration of the Indian Subcontinent.

Sacred Ecology

• Tīrthas are usually located on the banks of a river or a lake, in a forest, or on a mountain.
• The natural landscape itself is therefore seen or perceived as sacred space — puṇyakṣhetra.
• This perception has helped us protect and preserve Nature, since we are not distinct from her.
• So geography, culture and spirituality fuse together in these kṣhetras.

Rivers and sangams (confluence of rivers)

• Rivers have been worshipped in India since Vedic times.
• The nadīstuti sūkta of the Ṛigveda is a hymn (sūkta) in praise of (stuti) rivers (nadī).
• It invokes 19 major rivers of ancient northwest India.
• Even today, many rituals involving water invoke the presence of the most important rivers of India.

• These rivers have been lifelines for the Indian civilisation.
• Their sources, tributaries and the places they flow through are often regarded as sacred too, and are visited by many pilgrims.
• In local languages these rivers are referred to with respect — for instance, ‘Ganga ji‘ or ‘Yamuna ji‘.

Kumbh Mela — the legend behind it

• These four are the places where the Kumbh Mela has been held.
• A dip in the rivers there during a prescribed period is considered most auspicious.

Mountains and Forests

• All over the world, mountains are associated with legends, deities or heroes.
• Because of their height, mountains are seen as a symbolic gateway from earth to heaven.
• That is why many tīrthas and temples in India are located on hilltops.
• The physical journey to these peaks is seen as a symbolic journey to reach the divine.
• People undertook arduous walks through mountain trails to these sites and shrines, which tested not only their physical abilities but also their mental strength.
• Today such places are often accessible through roads and other modes of transport.

Trees, Forests and Sacred Groves

• In many parts of India, trees are adorned with offerings like turmeric and kumkum.
• One species of fig tree is commonly called:
  • ‘peepul‘ (or ‘pipal’)
  • ‘bo tree‘ or ‘bodhi tree‘
  • aśhvattha in Sanskrit
• It is sacred to Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism — all four.
• Its botanical name is Ficus religiosa — literally, in Latin, the ‘religious‘ or sacred fig tree.
• The tree in the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya is often cited as a direct descendant of the original tree under which, by Buddhist tradition, the Buddha attained enlightenment — hence the names ‘bodhi tree’ and ‘Bodh Gaya’.
• A seal from Mohenjo-daro shows peepul leaves at the top — proof that the peepul has been an important part of India’s cultural geography for millennia.

The epics and the land

• In Grade 6 we read about India’s two epics — the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa.
• These texts give vivid descriptions of pilgrimages undertaken, places visited, and sacred rivers, forests and mountains.
• In almost every region of India, numerous rural and tribal traditions claim that the heroes of these texts passed through their locality, with shrines often marking such passages.
• Example: a shrine in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, celebrates Rāma’s passing through the area.
• Such legends allowed a wide diversity of communities to make the two epics their own.

Sacred groves

• Over time, many rural and tribal communities across India decided to protect and preserve some natural forests.
• They protected them from harmful activities such as hunting, tree felling or mining.
• Reason: they saw those forests as the abodes of deities — for example, Ryngkew or Basa in Meghalaya.
• Such special forests are called ‘sacred groves‘ in English.
• Thanks to their sacred status, they shelter great biodiversity of flora and fauna.
• Many sacred groves are also home to small water bodies and thus help in water conservation.
• There were many thousands of sacred groves in India.
• Sadly, these numbers have been shrinking — people have started encroaching on them for various purposes, from agriculture to industry.
• Still, sacred groves continue to be protected in many regions of India.
• Named examples from the chapter: Kalkai temple (Mulshi, Maharashtra) · Mawphlong (Shillong) · the sacred groves of the Bhils · Udaiyankudukadu Karumbayiramkondan (Tamil Nadu).

From pilgrimage to trade

• Pilgrims encounter traders and merchants along their journey.
• This interaction benefits both groups — pilgrims need various items, which traders can provide.
• As a result, the pilgrimage routes and the trade routes often overlap.
• Some traders might also double as pilgrims, taking their wares to distant towns and cities while visiting sacred sites and shrines.

Sacred Geography beyond India

• The concept and practice of sacred geography are not unique to India.

• Among the Maoris, the elders of the community represent the voice of the mountain or river threatened with destruction.
• This ensures that the sacred places are not exploited and degenerated.

Restoring and conserving the sacred

• A harmonious relationship once existed between people and the sacred geography.
• It sustained Indian civilisation over millennia, creating values that were shared all over the Subcontinent.
• But today it is under great strain.
• Sacred geography still continues to be relevant today. People have spoken up to protect their environment, their deities and their values when:
  • There is a conflict in our relationship with Nature
  • A river is overexploited to the point of disappearance
  • A sacred mountain is challenged with competing ideas of development
• At a time when sustainability has become a global issue, a worldview that embeds sacred geography has a significant contribution to make.

Before we move on …

• All religions in India have their sacred places dotted over the landscape. In Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, such places are usually associated with some of the great figures in these belief systems.
• Hinduism has dense networks of pilgrimage sites covering the entire geography of India. Pilgrimage is interwoven with people’s lives — it serves individual development and spiritual growth, but also the socio-economic purposes of trade expansion and pan-Indian cultural integration.
• In many Hindu, tribal and folk traditions, the very land is perceived as sacred.
• Our sacred places are being polluted owing to widespread neglect and a lack of concern. It is our duty to protect our national heritage, as our Constitution also reminds us.

Numbers to remember

Attempt all 25 questions. Every answer opens an explanation box — read those even when you get the answer right.