Tīrtha

Abstract

In Hindu traditions, a tīrtha is a place believed to possess auspiciousness and purifying, salvific power, and it is therefore a pilgrimage site, tīrthayātrā. The term tīrtha is widely used for pilgrimage place, but pīṭha is also common, especially in tantric traditions about pilgrimage places associated with goddesses. Some pilgrimage places are called dhāms, such as the Himalayan pilgrimage to the four dhāms Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri, and Gangotri. Rivers are also objects of pilgrimage. The term kṣetra is also used for pilgrimage places, often for pilgrimage places that contain many tīrthas pilgrims are supposed to visit. Many Hindu pilgrimage places are associated with water since bathing often is part of the rituals performed at the pilgrimage places. Visiting tīrthas is a dominant feature of Hindu traditions, but pilgrimage was not part of the religion of the Vedas. The earliest Sanskrit text to promote visits to tīrthas was the Mahābhārata. The long Tīrthayātrāparvan, which constitutes chapters 78–148 of the Vanaparvan of the Mahābhārata, is perhaps from 200 to 400 ce or later. Cultural and social changes in this period led to tīrthas being increasingly promoted by bards and Brahmans. The genre of the Purāṇas was created to promote new religious ideas and practices and is dominated by the ideology of salvific space and promotion of pilgrimage travel to tīrthas. The Purāṇas contain a large number of Māhātmyas (texts proclaiming the greatness of a place), and many Purāṇas are themselves Māhātmyas of place, Sthalapurāṇas. The sacred narratives of the Purāṇas are often connected to places. In the Hindu traditions, the landscapes are adorned with narratives of gods and goddesses. For most Hindus, tīrthas have been more important than religious books, especially until the ability to read became widespread. Economic change seems to have played an important role in the development of salvific places and economic interests have been important motivations for their promotion. The salvific rewards granted by visits to the sites were often associated with gifts to Brahmans, which indicates the importance of the economic dimension in the pilgrimage tradition. Typically, in the texts promoting pilgrimage places, the salvific rewards of visiting pilgrimage centers are exaggerated, and the rewards of the Vedic sacrifices ridiculed, which probably points to conflicts in the tradition between different groups of priests. In the Hindu traditions, salvific space is a process, a way to relate to the environment, and new places of pilgrimage are continuously being created.