South Asian Sacred Places

Abstract

The study of religion, in all its various aspects, forms a central theme in cultural geography. As Stump (1966) noted in introducing an earlier special issue of the Journal of Cultural Geography, themes associated with religion pertinent ... to many of the fundamental issues and approaches of cultural geography generally. That earlier issue of this journal dealt primarily with aspects of the geography of religion as identified ill Europe and the United States. The current volume explores South Asian sacred places. De Blij (1982, 238) has noted that in some non-Western areas, religion is so vital a part of culture that it practically constitutes culture. So it is in South Asia, which represents one of the most important religious meeting grounds, as well as probably the greatest cradle of world religions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, all arose in the northern part of the subcontinent. Hinduism, the world's oldest surviving religion, continues to provide the framework for daily life in much of South Asia. Buddhism and Jainism grew up apparently as reform movements within Hinduism, but eventually established themselves as separate faiths. Although Buddhism and Jainism evolved from the sixth century C.E., the impact of the former in South Asia today is largely limited to the mountainous north in Nepal and Bhutan, and in a different form in the island of Sri Lanka. Elsewhere in Asia, however, Buddhism has flourished. Jainism, on the other hand, never received as widespread an adherence, probably because of its emphasis on asceticism. Even in India, the land of its birth, its impact remains restricted. Sikhism, a much younger religious faith, arose in the Punjab as an attempt to reconcile Hindu beliefs with those of Islam. In the process it evolved into a separate and independent religion. One of the great issues of South Asian history has been the contact, competition, and conflict between Muslims and Hindus. The Islamic penetration of the subcontinent began in the eighth century as part of a great eastward wave of conquest, and an often uneasy relationship between the two great religions has persisted ever since. Nor must one forget Christianity when discussing religion in South Asia. Introduced centuries before the colonizing contact of the British and other Europeans, its influence has continued and in some areas grown stronger with the passage of time. In the midst of these world religions, more limited tribal and localized beliefs continue to be practiced. The Toda of the Nilgiri Hills of southern India tenaciously cling to religious beliefs which are oriented to propitiation and care of sacred buffaloes, even as their territory contracts under pressure from larger numbers of neighboring farming peoples. Other tribal or remote groups face similar pressures elsewhere in the subcontinent. Everywhere throughout the subcontinent people are still mostly rural and tradition-oriented. This, combined perhaps with short life expectancy (when compared to the developed world), has served to keep religion as a central focus of people's activities. The articles in this special issue address extremely diverse subjects unified by a basic concern for Asian sacred places, both in the subcontinent and in areas in other parts of the world to which South Asians have carried their religious beliefs. Religion is one of the most effective agents in defining the cultural landscape. Ishrat Islam and Allen G. Noble examine the evolving form of mosques in Bangladesh. …