Tirtha (Hinduism)
Part of a series on |
Hinduism |
---|
Tirtha (
The process or journey associated with tirtha is called tirtha-yatra,[4] while alternate terms such as kshetra, gopitha and mahalaya are used in some Hindu traditions to refer to a "place of pilgrimage".[5][6]
Tirtha
Tirtha: Holy Pilgrimage
Tīrtha (
The word Tirtha is found in the oldest layer, that is the Samhita of the Rigveda as well as other Vedas.[14] In the hymns of Rigveda, such as 1.169.6 and 4.29.3, the context suggests that the word means "a way or road".[14] In other hymns of Rigveda such as 8.47.11, states Kane, the context suggests the term means "a ford in the river".[14] Yet, in other cases, Tirtha refers to any holy place, such as by the sea, or a place that connects a sacrificial ground (Yajna) to the outside.[15][9] Later texts use the word Tirtha to refer to any spot, locality or expanse of water where circumstances or presence of great sages or gurus has made special.[16][3][17]
In the Upanishads, states Diana L. Eck, the "crossing over" refers to the "spiritual transition and transformation from this world to the world of Brahman, the Supreme, the world illumined by the light of knowledge".[18] The emphasis in the Upanishads, in Tirtha context is on spiritual knowledge, instead of rituals, and this theme appears in the Hindu epics as well.[18]
Holy sites
Major sites of Tirtha in India. Orange markers are UNESCO world heritage sites.The
Pilgrimage sites are not prominent in Dharmasastras such as
In ancient texts,
Reasons
Some pilgrimage are part of a Vrata (vow), which a Hindu may make for a number of reasons.
Ancient rationale for pilgrimage
Flower-like the heels of the wanderer,
His body groweth and is fruitful,
All his sins disappear,
Slain by the toil of his journeying.
An alternate reason for Tirtha, for some Hindus, is to respect wishes or in memory of a beloved person after his or her death.[31] This may include dispersing their cremation ashes in a Tirtha region in a forest, mountain, river or sea to honor the wishes of the dead. The journey to a Tirtha, assert some Hindu texts, helps one overcome the sorrow of the loss.[31]
Another reason for a Tirtha is the Hindu belief that journeys have rejuvenating potential, to purify the inner state of man, and there is spiritual merit in travel, a theme asserted by the Vedic texts.[33][34] This journey in later Hindu texts, states Bhardwaj, has ranged from the inner journey of meditation to physically traveling to famed temples or bathe in rivers such as the Ganges.[35][11]
Tirtha has been one of the recommended means of addressing remorse and to perform penance, for unintentional errors and intentional sins, in the Hindu tradition.[36][20] The effort and austerities during the Tirtha are a part of Prāyaścitta concept, which means "atonement, penance, expiation" for "something one has done, but shouldn't have" or "something one did not do, but should have".[37][38][39] Vishnu Dharmasastra asserts that the type of sin that may be expiated through pilgrimages is referred to as anupātakas (small sin), in contrast to mahapātakas (major sin) that require other penances.[40] According to Kane, many texts asserted that "tirtha-yatra (journey to a holy place) was a popular way for redemption of sins in the case of all classes of men and women.[41]
Method
The proper procedure for a pilgrimage is debated within the smṛtis, with questions such as whether one should cut his hair before a pilgrimage arising or whether a fast at the tīrtha is required.[42]
The mode of travel is also widely discussed, particularly when the Tirtha is undertaken as part of a penance. The most widely accepted view appears to be that the greatest austerity (prāyaścitta) comes from traveling on foot, or part of the journey is on foot, and that the use of a conveyance is only acceptable if the pilgrimage is otherwise impossible.[43]
The Hindu texts assert that the man should take his wife with him, when proceeding to pilgrimage.[44] However, some smṛtis also call attention to the fact that doing one's duty as a householder is more important than going on pilgrimages, and it is only in special cases or once one has paid his Three Debts (to his parents, his teacher, and the Vedas) that he should resort to pilgrimages.[45]
Raghunanda's Prāyaścitta-tattva asserts that the person seeking penance must give up 16 things when he reaches Ganges river, including behavior such as praising another tirtha, striking any one, sexual dalliance, accepting gifts, giving one's used clothing as gifts to others.[46]
Kshetra
A pilgrimage place or location in some Hindu texts is also referred to as Kshetra (
A kshetra often refers to a collection of tirtha locations (temples, river banks) in a certain location, such as Varanasi, Hardwar, Somnath, Mathura-Vrindavan, Ayodhya, Puri and Kanchipuram, are referred to as a kshetra.[48] A kshetra may denote a place where there is a temple or where there is held to have been a person or event of sacred, religious or dharmic importance. The Kurukshetra specifically is the "field" or "precinct" where the Pandavas and Kauravas fought a religious war as told in the Bhagavad Gita section of the Mahabharata.
A kshetra need not be distant permanently developed travel site, and refers to any temporary space, such as a wedding area or mandala set up for a worship, that is sacred.[49] Both yantras and mandalas are sometimes referred to as kshetras.[50][51]
The Vaishnava Puranas enumerates seven sites as the gates of Moksha: Ayodhya, Mathura, Māyā, Kāsi, Kāñchī, Avantikā (Ujjain), Purī and Dvārāvatī.[11]
Tirtha monastery
The Gosains (Dashnami) credit Adi Shankara for setting up 10 monastic orders in India, of which Tirtha is one and is based in Dwarka, Gujarat in Kalika Matha.[52][53] The entire list includes Tirtha and Ashrama in Gujarat, Vana and Aranya in Odisha, Giri, Parvata and Sagara in Uttarkhand, Saraswati, Bharati and Puri in Karnataka.[53][54]
See also
- Kshetram
- Kshetrajna
- Pilgrimage (section Hinduism)
- Hinduism (section Pilgrimage)
- Theertham
- Yatra
- Tirtha (Jainism)
References
- ^ a b c James G. Lochtefeld 2002, pp. 698–699.
- ^ a b c d e f Axel Michaels & Barbara Harshav (Transl) 2004, pp. 288–289.
- ^ a b c Knut A. Jacobsen 2013, pp. 157–158.
- ^ a b Bhardwaj 1983, p. 2.
- ^ Pilgrimage, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Koeln University, Germany (2012)
- ^ Monier Monier-Williams. A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 800.
- ISBN 978-81-89091-09-5.
- ISBN 978-1-85072-190-1.
- ^ a b Diana L. Eck 2012, p. 7.
- ^ Diana L. Eck 2012, p. 10.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-62356-623-4.
- ^ a b Bhardwaj 1983, p. 3.
- ^ Atmananada, Paramhansa (24 October 2018). "Chitta Suddhi". www.kriyayogajagat.com. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
- ^ a b c Kane 1953, p. 554.
- ^ Kane 1953, pp. 554–555.
- ^ Kane 1953, p. 555.
- samsara, reside in them. There is no more sacred place than the heart of the sadhu, wherein God himself resides.
- ^ a b Diana L. Eck 2012, pp. 7–8.
- ^ a b Kane 1953, pp. 560–561.
- ^ a b Bhardwaj 1983, p. 4.
- ^ Kane 1953, p. 561.
- ^ a b Diana L. Eck 2012, pp. 7–9.
- ISBN 978-0-19-971825-2.
Quote: The earliest promotional works aimed at tourists from that era were called mahatmyas [in Puranas].
- ^ Kane 1953, pp. 559–560.
- ISBN 978-0-8264-5303-7.
- ISBN 978-3447025225.
- ^ Kane 1953, pp. 553–556, 560–561.
- ^ Klaus K. Klostermaier 2010, p. 553 note 55.
- ^ Diana L. Eck 2012, pp. 9–11.
- ^ Bhardwaj 1983, p. 6.
- ^ a b c d Diana L. Eck 2012, p. 9.
- ^ Agehananda Bharati (1963), Pilgrimage in the Indian Tradition, History of Religions, Vol. 3, No. 1, pages 135-167
- ^ Bhardwaj 1983, pp. 3–4.
- ISBN 978-0-7618-5314-5.
- ^ Bhardwaj 1983, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Robert Lingat 1973, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Prāyaścitta, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Koeln University, Germany
- ^ Patrick Olivelle 2006, pp. 195-198 with footnotes.
- ^ Kane 1953, pp. 57–61.
- ^ Kane 1953, p. 106.
- ^ Kane 1953, pp. 567–569.
- ^ Kane 1953, p. 573.
- ^ Kane 1953, pp. 576–577.
- ^ Kane 1953, p. 571.
- ^ Kane (1953), pp. 570–571
- ^ Kane 1953, p. 578.
- ^ Knut A. Jacobsen 2013, pp. 4, 22, 27, 140–148, 158.
- ^ Knut A. Jacobsen 2013, pp. 128–130.
- ^ Knut A. Jacobsen 2013, pp. 27–28, 133.
- ISBN 978-81-208-0584-2.
- ISBN 978-0-7618-5314-5.
- ISBN 978-0-14-341421-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-7991-104-4.
- ^ Saraswati, His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Chandrasekharendra; Sri Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Pitha (1988). Adi Shankara, His Life and Times. Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Bibliography
- Bhardwaj, Surinder Mohan (1983). Hindu Places of Pilgrimage in India: A Study in Cultural Geography. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-04951-2.
- ISBN 978-0-385-53190-0.
- Knut A. Jacobsen (2013). Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition: Salvific Space. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-59038-9.
- Kane, P.V. (1953). History of Dharmaśāstra: Ancient and Medieval Religious and Civil Law in India. Vol. 4.
- Klaus K. Klostermaier (2010). Survey of Hinduism, A: Third Edition. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-8011-3.
- James G. Lochtefeld (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z. The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8239-3180-4.
- Robert Lingat (1973). The Classical Law of India. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-01898-3.
- Axel Michaels; Barbara Harshav (Transl) (2004). Hinduism: Past and Present. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691089539.
- Patrick Olivelle (2006). Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-977507-1.
- Baidyanath Saraswati (1985). Traditions of Tirthas in India: The Anthropology of Hindu Pilgrimage. N.K. Bose Memorial Foundation.
- Michael Rudolph; Klaus-Peter Kopping; Bernhard Leistle (2007). Ritual and Identity: Performative Practices as Effective Transformations of Social Reality (Performances). Münster [Germany]: Lit Verlag. pp. 267–269 ISBN 978-3-8258-8042-2.
External links
- Sacred of the Sacred by Swami Tripurari