Pilgrimage : Tirthayatra

                                                

Pilgrimage :     Tirthayatra

 Pilgrimage to holy places is a practice common to all religions. Followers of every religion look upon certain places specially sacred and they cherish the desire to visit those places at least once in their life. Jerusalem is sacred to both, the Jews and Christian. A devout Christians finds his love for Christ greatly deepened , as all incidents in the life of Christ come alive to him when he visits Jerusalem. Similarly Macca and Madina, two places where prophet Mohammed spent major part of  his life, are sacred to Muslims. It has been laid down in the holy Koran that every Muslim must perform Haj-pilgrimage to Mecca and Madina atleast once in his life.

Buddhists from all over the world visit Gaya, Sarnath, Kushinagar and Lumbini. When a Buddhist  goes to Gaya and looks at the sacred, peepal  tree under which Siddharth Gautam attained bodhi  i.e.enlightenment, hence he is called the Buddha –the enlightened one, his imagination is stirred up and  thoughts soar above all wordly things and his aspirations are fixed on attaining Nirvana, the highest goal of a human life. His resolve is further strengthened when he visits Sarnath, near Varanasi, where the Buddha delivered his first sermon.  Kushinagar when he preached last and gave up his ghost and Lumbini where he was born.

Hindus are credited to have a large number of holy places from the Himalayas (North) to the Kanyakumari(Southend) and Dwarka in Saurashtra (West) to Kamakhya in Assam and Puri in Orissa (East).

Rabindranath Tagore, the great poet underlining the difference of attitude between the Europeans and Indians has pointed out that a European locating a beautiful and picturesque place would immediately think of building a hotel there for the travelers, but Indians since the past ages have deified nature and declared such places as Tirthas- holy places of pilgrimage and utilized them as a perennial source of inspiration., bestowing peace and consolation to the worried souls..

At the southern end of India’s where the land merges with the vast Indian ocean, the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, is a most fascinating and beautiful spot. It has been proclaimed a seat of eternal divine maiden Kanyakumari. Indians would have viewed the great Niagara fall differently than what it is today-just one fashionable a picnic spot. If such a beautiful place would have been located in India, magnificent temples would have been built there befitting the surroundings and a larger number of pilgrims and travelers would have thronged there than they do now. It has been laid down in the Hindu Shastras that all sins of a man are washed away by taking bath in the holy water of a tirath. The Mahabharata and Puranas get eloquest in the praise of pilgrimage to Tirthas. A pilgrimage to tirthas has been considered more virtuous than the performance of sacrifices. Probably it is due to the reason that performance of sacrifices became so elaborate, complicated and also costly rituals that only kings and very rich persons could afford it. Hinduism, as usual, never became out of tune with new situations and hence it quickly adapted itself to them and declared that pilgrimage to holy places could be performed by all classes of people, the rich and the poor, all castes, from the Brahmanas to the Shudras. The performance of pilgrimage causes destruction of sins and increases piety in the minds of the virtuous. Fruits of pilgrimage are available to all men irrespective of their castes or ashrama, Grihastha or Sanyasa.

 

1.         Badarinarayana           :           Hindu Tirthas are scattered all over the subcontinent and they are equally             sacred and holy. However, the largest network of Tirthas is found in the Himalayas and on the banks of             Ganga. Temples of Badarinarayan and Kedarnath are located in Uttarakhand and Amarnath cave is in             Jammu & Kashmir. The Himalayas are considered ‘Devabhumi’- the divine land and ‘Devatma’- the             divinity ensouled and the Ganga is ‘Suranadi’. the divine river, Lord Shiva had choosen  Kailash, the             highest peak of the Himalayas, to be his abode. The grandeur and serenity of the Himalayas from the time             immemorial have attracted many people of religious frame of mind to devote their time to spiritual culture.             It had the ashramas of great rishis who practiced penances and attained siddhis and used them for the             benefit of the world. Those ashramas course of time became Tirthas and even famous saints are said to have             visited these places for spiritual practices.

The Ganga is a great and the holiest river of the Hindus. It receives its waters from the glaciers of the       Central Himalayas and flows through the vast fertile and densely populated tract of North India. The general direction of the river is north-west to south-east and it falls in the Bay of Bengal after traversing a        distance of about 2300 Km. The greater of its main head streams, the Alakananda originates from the Tibetan border in Uttarkashi district. The lesser one is called Bhagirathi which originates from the cave of      Gangotri and join the Alakananda at Devaprayaga and takes the name of The Ganga. There are five holy          confluences- Deva-prayaga, Nanda-Prayaga,Karna-prayaga,Rudra-prayaga and Vishnu Prayaga. It is said          that at all these holy places Brahma, the god of creation had performed special sacrifices-hence they are called Prayaga.9The place of sacrifice)

Meandering through the Himalayas and carrying with it a large amount of minerals in its water which      makes it quite safe for drinking and described holy, the Ganga reaches the plains of north India at Haridwar. The religious significance of the Ganga is greater than of any other river in the world. It is the Mother banks of Ganga have a special significance, the main among them being Haradwar, Prayag (Allahabad) and Kashi (Varanasi).

 

2.         Haradawar, Prayag and Kashi ;           It is at Haridwar that the Ganga leaves the mountain and reaches the great plains of North India, and Prayaga is the point where the Ganga and Yamuna join. Kashi is further   down the river of these Kashi is situated on the high elevated bank of the river, on its left side. Because of its geographical location when the Ganga leaves Prayaga and touching theVindhya mountain where the famous Vindhyavasisni Durga Temple is situated, it moves on and  dashes against  the rocks at Chunar and slightly further down at Ramnagar where the fort of Raja of Banaras stands, the river takes a northern course and reaches below the elevated table-land of Varanasi the other name of Kashi which constitutes the lowest bed of the river and hence the Ganga does not move away from the city. This is the secret of the      Hindu mythology that Ganga the consort of Lord Shiva ,the presiding deity of Kashi does not leave the Lord Varanasi   the other name of Kashi has been a city of temples since time immemorial where pilgrims             throng throughout the year in large numbers. Elsewhere the holiness of the Tirthas acquires special prominence at some point of the year and there are special festivals, notably Magh mela at Prayaga. But Kashi is considered holy round the year.

It is common belief among the Hindus that persons dying in Prayaga  or Kashi particularly in Kashi attain  salvation- freedom from the cycle  of life and birth. Hence large number of Hindus retire to Kashi to breath  instant their last on the banks of the Ganga . Starting from one end of the city to the other in the form a curve of about 5 Km. are stone built ghats, a passage of stairways descending to the river, a unique feature of special attraction. They are crowded by the people who take their morning bath in the river and assemble            to listen to holy discourses in the evening . The city breathes with piety day and night and all seasons of the    year.

 

3.         Gaya    :           Another Hindu Tirtha is Gaya in Bihar. There are some verses in Mahabharata (Vana             Parva) which are quoted in connection with the performance of a special Shraddha at Gaya. It is said, “one should desire for many sons. If one of them goes to Gaya or performs a horse –sacrifice or sets free a black         colored bull, his ‘pitras’ –ancestors will attain full and final satisfaction.”

There are  many holy spots located within a radius of about 16Km. in Gaya, where ‘pinda’ –cakes of boiled          rice are offered to the pitras and it takes seven days to complete the Gaya pilgrimage.

Tirthas have played an important role in building and maintaining the unity of India through the common bond of a common culture. At the time of performing sacred ceremonies and other occasions also seven holy rivers of north & south are invoked by name.”Oh Ye, Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari,Saraswati,Narmada,Sindhu and Kaveri come and abide in this water (offered by me).

Similarly we have seven Kula (sacred) mountains, viz Mahendra-hills between Godawari and Mahanandi”,             Malaya- southern portion of western ghats from Nilgiri to Kanyakumari, Sahya –northern portion of western ghats from Tapti river to Nilgiris, Suktimana- Garo- Khasia and Tripura hills, Riksha, Satpura hills, Vindhya-region east of Bhopal and  Parijata, Western portion of the Vindhya, west of Bhopal.

There are seven sacred cities – Puri, Ayodhya, Mathura, Avantika(Ujjain), Kashi (Varanasi), Maya          (Haridwara), Kanchi (Tamilnadu) and Dvaravati (Dwarika) which are believed to have powers  to grant salvation – moksha. Twelve Jyotirlingas and fifty one Shaktipithas are located in different parts of India. Pious Hindus are expected to visit these holy places on pilgrimage to them as a part of their sacred duty. Apparently they have been chosen  to lead the masses out of their homes to undertake an all India tour as a pilgrim, so  that they may acquaint themselves with different shades of people speaking different languages, wearing different kinds of dress, eating variety of food and feel the unity in this variety. Under the peculiar religious systems of India, people living in south India always long for Kashi while those in the north have an earnest desire to go to Setu Ram Rameshwaram at and KanyaKumari and both have a common yearning for Dwaraka and Jagannath Puri . People from the north,south, east and west meet and embrace each other in these tirthas and convey their feelings without the knowledge and grasp of their respective languages.

 

4.         Panchayatana Puja- Worship of Five Deities;  Panchayatana is the name of a particular            ceremonial worship in which five symbols are used for the five deities, viz ; Vishnu, Shiva, Surya, Devi and Ganesha. Although personal marks of these deities are well defined in Agama scriptures, in the Panchayatana system they are represented in symbols, which depicts an intermediary stage between    Nirakara- formuless to Sakara-with form in the Hindu idol worship. The symbols that are worshipped are in different shapes of rock formation. Thus all these deities have forms but at the same time they are formless because they have no organs such as the face, arms, legs etc..In this form worship Shiva is worshipped as           Bna Linga, found in the Narmada river (Onkara Kund). He is therefore, also known as Narmadeshvara, Vishnu is worshipped as Shalagram,the small stone brought out from the river Gandaki near the village named Shalagram in Nepal. The Sun God is worshipped as a crystal found at Villama in Tamilnadu , Devi Ambika, Shakti is worshipped in the form of Svarnamukhi the stone found in the river Svaranamukhi near Kalahasti in the state of Andhra Pradesh and Ganesha is worshipped as a red stone of Sonbhadra found at            the confluence of rivers Sone and Ganga near Patna, the capital of Bi       

It is interesting to note that the Buddha was also worshipped in symbolic form in the beginning, when his idols did not exist.  His followers worshipped him in the form of a stupa or chaitya or the Bodhi tree or his foot prints.

 

5.         Panchayana and National Unity          ;           Panchayana is based on the concept of national unity and             cultural integration of India through the ages. To acquire these holy stones devotees trekked across the entire country from the foot of the Himalayas to the sea-coast of Tamilnadu and in this process they       happened to visit the Tirthas ‘holy place’s scattered all over the Indian sub-continent. The treking broadened their outlook on life and removed petty parochial weaknesses. This is the singular contribution of   Hindu religion as patronized by the great saint and philosopher Shankaracharya.

It would be useful to trace the evolution of different cult deities  constituting the Panchayatana.

 

 

6.         Deities – Vedic Period:             Vedic rishis worshipped Indra as the god of thunder and giver of rains and             Varuna who lived in the sky and released  the penitent from sin. They were  the greatest figures in the Vedic             pantheon. But the number of gods  in the course of time increased, and Savita was added as Solar diety. He stimulated the life and activities in the world. He was followed by Mitra and Agni. Mitra regulates the      course of  The Sun  and Agni, was the God of the Fire, sometimes described as brother, the kinsman and friend.(RV.1.1.9).

The divine rank went on swelling. But no fixed hierarchy in the Vedic pantheon of gods is noticeable. That           there was some kind of democracy among them is the dominant  spirit of the Vedic religion. A particular deity, the rishi happens to invoke and worship, became the highest deity and omnipotent and omniscient and even omnipresent . He is addressed as if he is the greatest deity.

However, joint exercise of various powers and performance of functions by two or more deities or gods is a             favorite theme of vedic hymnology. In the Rig-Veda almost every god is paid homage by all other gods.

 

7.         God is One  : He Has Many Names      :           Strikingly even at so early a stage of spiritual             consciousness, Vedic rishis have recognized the presence of an invisible spirit behind each and every             natural phenomenon. It can be fairly concluded that behind their apparently polytheistic conception there is             a deep rooted monotheism, which is also made clear and loudly declared : “ To what is one, sages give many names. Ekam Sat Vipra Bzshudavadanti. They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna and Agni” – Indram,            Mitram, Varunam, Agnimahu (RV.I. 164,46).

Since the time of Rigveda, a revolution has taken place in Hinduism. The gods who were of minor           importance, came to be recognized and worshipped as prominent deities and those who were great were consigned to inferior positions and almost forgotten, and their high places were taken by new gods with new names viz,Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh or Mahadeva Shiva- Trideva or Triad and their consorts Brahmini, Lakshmi and Devi or Durga or Bhavani and finally Vishnu in his various Avataras, such as Rama    and Krishna  because very popular. But in the midst of these conspicuous changes, Hindu devotees conception of the supreme deity, his spiritual hopes, aspirations and the desire to seek divine help and guidance have remained unchanged.

 

8.         Bhakti Cult      :           Evolution of different religious cults and sects has been a gradual process in which             Bhakti -‘devotion’ was the most important constituent. It finds expression in the adoration and worship of  a             deity in his Nirguna ’ as well as without form’ Saguna ‘with form’. Worship or Puja accompanied by rituals is the developed form of Bhakti in which the Bhakta  the devotee experiences a close. bond or association    with his personal deity. This mental attitude in groups of persons was the main guiding principle behind the growth of cults and sects.

No cult or creed grew around any Vedic god. However, at a later stage affiliations were established with some of the gods. Original sectarian gods were great human beings like Vasudeva Krishna, of the luner clan of Mathura and Ram, the son of King of Ayodhya of the solar dynasty, Gautam Buddha and Mahavira who were Kshatriya princes and Shiva or Rudra who was a mythological being and mother goddess viz, Parvati, Gauri and Vindhyavasni are the names of his consort. The list consists of historical semi-historical beings who were objects of devotion and different cult grew around these figures claiming large numbers of followers in ancient and medieval ages.

 

9.         Surya and Yaksha Worship      :           Surya, the Sun god became a prominent cult deity in north-west             Indian sub-continent in the early centuries of Christian era. Multan, now in Pakistan was the principal centre of the Sun cult. There was a magnificent  temple of Surya in this city which attracted large a number of devotees from all over India. This temple was demolished  by Muslim invaders, Konarka in Orissa was another famous temple of Surya.

Yaksha worship was also very popular in north India. Life size images of Yakshas and Yakshis have been found at Patna Mathura, Besanagar, Pavaya near Gwalior, Baroda  demigodsand many other places. Independent worship of Yakshas lost its popularity in course of time and  they were relegated to the status of         attendants of Kubera, the god of wealth and occasionally Vishnu and Shiva.

 

1O.      Ganapati, Ganesha      :           The worship of Ganapati or Ganesha as a cult deity seems to have started             before the Gupta period. Among the  kings vanquished by Samundragupta (320AD) there is a king named Ganapati Naga who ruled from Padamvati near Gwalior, indicating the popularity of Ganapati or Ganesha as a cult deity.

Vaishnava, Shaiva, Shakta, Saurand, Ganapatya were five well known sects – Dharma sampradayas.

The follower of each sect considered his personal deity, which was probability his family deity as well, to            be the supreme deity and there is evidence to indicate that there was mutual rivalry among the followers of these sects, which found expression in the fabrication of mythological stories. Separate Puranas like The      Vishnu Purana, Shiva Purana, Devi Purana, Ganesh Purana etc. were composed.  Although no independent       Surya Purana exists, Pauranikas designated Brahma Purana, as the Surya Purana as in part it deals with the           worship of Surya, the Sun God.

However, attempts at reconciliation and rapprochement have been made between the rival creeds since     early period. As a result injunctions have been laid down in Dharamshastras to adopt liberal attitude in religious matters which is reflected in the Panchayatana Puja in which all the five principal deities are         objects of vaneration. It was held that the supreme God in his entirety appears in five aspects represented by Vishnu, Shiva, Surya, Devi and Ganesha. (replacing Brahma of theTriad-Trideva) in accordance with the       nature, faith, liking, family tradition etc. of the worshipper. But the worship of all five deities is obligatory         to them. All the stones, Shalagrama, Narmadeshvara, Crystal, Swaranmukhi and Sonabhadra representing, Vishnu, Shiva, Surya, Devi and Ganapati respectively, are placed in the Thali a metallic dish. The symbol       of the personal deity (Ishtadevata) of the worshipper or the symbol of the deity chosen for worship on a            particular occasion is placed in the middle and the symbols of remaining deities are placed in four corners      as given below, according to the fixed rules laid down in the scriptures.

Panchayatana in the beginning was non-iconic-symbolic, but when Panchayatana temples came to be built            under the influence of Shri Shankaracharya the particular personal deity (Ishtadevata) of the worshipper            being the principal deity takes the central place and idols of the other four deities are installed in the four    corners.

The layout plan of Panchayatana temples is given below;

 

East                                                                                                                                                         South

Vishnu	Shiva	Surya	Devi	Ganesha
Shiva       Ganesha    Vishnu Devi             Surya	Vishnu       Surya   Shiva   Devi         Ganesha	Shiva      Ganesha   Surya   Devi          Vishnu	Vishnu         Shiva   Devi   Surya       Ganesha	Vishnu      Shiva   Ganesha   Devi            Surya

West                                                                                                                                                       North