Valuation of Religious Site Parshuram Kund in Arunachal Pradesh

Abstract

Parasuram Kund or the well of Parasuram is a holy place located in the beautiful lower reaches of the Lohit River about 56 km by road from Tezu in Lohit District. The place is associated with the legend of Parasuram expiating his sins. The Kalika-Puran (C. 8th Century A.D.) makes mention of this kund as a sacred place. The Yogini-Tantra states that a bath in the kund washes away all sins. Streams of pilgrims visit during Magh Sankranti Mela held in the month of January every year. On this occasion, the place takes a festive look with thousands of devotees coming from far and near and elaborate arrangements are made by the Government to extend transport, lodging, medical and other facilities to them. The importance to this place for the Hindu pilgrimage was also narrated by the T.T. Cooper during his Mishmi Expedition in 1900 AD where he mention that people from Assam and Bangladesh used to visit this holy place. Considering the multidimensional benefits of holy site from the tourism perspective, the present paper attempt for economic valuation of the Parshuram Kund by using the contingent valuation method. For this valuation purposes, the stakeholders are divided into four categories viz. Saint, Visitors on religious purposes, Visitors on commercial purposes and household nearby the Parshuram Kund. Different opinions and suggestions were compiled from the field survey conducted during Makar Sankranti 2019.