PILGRIM SHRINES OF INDIA

The tradition of visiting sacred spots, places and buildings to attain religious merit, washing off the sins and accomplishment of desires has been a common practice in India and elsewhere in the Old World since time immemorial. Such an act has traditionally been regarded as noble and often equated with purification of body and mind, and achievement of merits. The present work makes an attempt to introduce to the reader various pilgrim centers, sacred shrines and holy site connected with different faiths and traditions in India, which, in the words of Lord Lytton, were ‘for variety, extent, completeness and beauty unsurpassed, perhaps unequaled in the world’. An account of eighty pilgrim shrines scattered throughout India has been given while many more in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal have been listed. Bamiyan in Afghanistan has been described in an appendix. Some hermitages in India have also been listed. The survey of Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish, Christian and Sufi pilgrim shrines in India, their mythology, archaeology, history and art and the listing of pilgrim shrines in neighboring countries vouchsafes an intimate glimpse into the glorious cultural heritage of the Indian subcontinent to the Non-Resident Indians (NRI’s) interested in knowing about their roots, cultural tourists from abroad and general readers interested in the art and culture of India. Profusely illustrated with maps, line-drawings and rare photographs, this is an ideal companion to the treasures of art, religion and culture in the Indian Subcontinent. This is a work of absorbing interest and highly useful for cultural tourism in India.