The pandas of Jagannath Puri in Odisha are sometimes chastised for aggressively demanding daan and dakshina from pilgrims. They argue the temple is their mom — she feeds them via those that go to the temple. This concept that pilgrim spots are additionally industrial spots, and sources of livelihood for a lot of, has usually been a contentious challenge, not simply in India however around the globe.
Within the New Testomony, Jesus Christ drives out the cash changers and dove sellers and different merchants from the temple at Jerusalem, accusing them of defiling a sacred house. Lately, the Jain group held silent protest marches on studying that the sacred Shikharji mountains of Jharkhand and Palitana in Gujarat have been being earmarked for tourism.
Whereas the Vatican in Rome is open to vacationers, Mecca is just not. And but, the Hajj and Umrah have been monetised. As quickly as consulting corporations instructed the royals of Saudi Arabia that oil might not have an important future, they turned their consideration to Mecca, and went out of their method to construct among the greatest pilgrimage infrastructure the world has ever seen. Each Muslim is anticipated to go to the Home of God, or Kabbah, on this holy metropolis, a minimum of as soon as in his lifetime — for that is the place the Prophet Muhammad prayed, earlier than him Abraham, and even earlier than him Adam and the angels. The pilgrim wants meals, transport, lodgings, and a little bit of leisure. Apart from hospitality, he additionally wants banking and well being providers. This has created an unlimited variety of jobs, and so, goodwill throughout the Islamic world. Due to 2.5 million annual pilgrims, Saudi Arabia’s income from non secular tourism is anticipated to achieve about $350 billion in 2030. What’s India’s potential, contemplating there are such a lot of pilgrim spots in India?
Let’s check out the numbers. On probably the most auspicious day of the Mahakumbha Mela at Prayagraj, there might be over 50 million folks. This occurs each 12 years. Within the remaining 11 years, in the course of the annual Magh Mela, Prayagraj can witness as much as half one million folks looking for to take a dip within the Sangam. The Puri Rath Yatra in Odisha is witnessed by one million folks on a single day. It as soon as yielded a pilgrim tax of Rs 9 lakh as per Mughal and Firm information, till the pilgrim tax was outlawed in 1840. The dimensions of pilgrimages in India — that are voluntary and never mandated by any non secular authority — boggles the thoughts. The monetary potential is big. It will be silly to disregard such an asset.
India is a spiritual nation, with tons of of Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Islamic and Christian pilgrim spots dotting its mountains, plateaus, plains, and coasts. India can also be a poor nation. Folks want jobs. Tourism creates jobs. Non secular tourism assures sustainable revenue. For a lot of Indians, pilgrimage is the one tourism they’ll expertise. Pilgrim spots are thus belongings. And this has been realised way back by the federal government and business our bodies like FICCI. So it is sensible to develop these pilgrim websites and supply the infrastructure that helps extra pilgrims journey simply, and comfortably. This implies roads, railways, airports, resorts, taxis, eating places, hospitals, retailers, leisure zones, and even religious theme parks. Kashi Vishwanath has remodeled. Ujjain has remodeled. Amritsar has remodeled. Puri has remodeled. Ayodhya and Mathura will quickly rework. Revenues of a number of crores are being generated from these websites, with hardly any gestation interval. That is good, proper?
However what’s the price of such improvement? There are studies on the ecological influence of the infrastructure work in Mecca, the carbon footprint created within the fragile desert ecosystem, however such conversations can simply be deemed Islamophobic. The identical can occur in India, the place politicians accuse activists of being Hinduphobic anti-development atheist Naxalites.
However nature doesn’t look after politics. Uttarakhand, holy since Vedic occasions because the place the place Ganga strikes from the mountains into the plains, is residence to many sacred spots akin to Kedarnath, Badrinath, Haridwar, Rishikesh and Joshimath. The realm is ecologically fragile. And in current occasions, there have been a sequence of calamities akin to floods, earthquakes, and landslides, calling into query improvement actions, and the push for infrastructure.
Politicians are nonetheless offended about temples damaged centuries in the past by invading Muslim warlords. However none of them is offended in regards to the destruction of sacred groves referred to as the Devrais of Goa. These have been for hundreds of years out of bounds to farmers and pastoralists. They have been believed to be the house of the Goddess. This ensured biodiversity. However these are being destroyed by mining actions and new infrastructure. In contrast to well-organised Jain protests, protests to save lots of sacred groves of tribal communities don’t garner media consideration. The subaltern holy spot is straightforward to disregard.
India is a land created not by kings or retailers, however by pilgrims who adopted sages to the isolation of mountains, or the fertility of river deltas, river confluences or river bends. These are the place pilgrim spots are positioned. That is the place mythological figures like Ram, Krishna, Shiva, and Durga carried out magnificent deeds. That is the place their energy nonetheless throbs – energy that individuals search of their day by day lives, which makes them need to go to these websites. That is inspired by kings who realise the financial and political energy of such actions. Allow us to not neglect how the Kanwar yatra within the Gangetic area has been utterly politicised, and the way there are makes an attempt to politicise the Varkari yatra in Maharashtra.
Politicians look after energy. For this they want folks. Retailers look after wealth. For this they want markets. Neither look after nature. For them the pilgrims are sheep, and the tribal is a savage, straightforward to use and abuse. They milk the earth-cow ruthlessly, like Vena of the Bhagavata Purana. However they neglect, the earth-cow may have the final chortle. As per Hindu lore, she’s going to ask Parasuraman, Ram and Krishna to slaughter grasping kings. And in the event that they fail, she’s going to flip into the wild Kali and categorical her rage with illness and disasters and quench her thirst with blood.
The author is a mythologist and creator of Pilgrim Nation (Aleph)