Holy Places and Pilgrimages Essays on India

Contents: Preface. Foreword. 1. Holy places and pilgrimages in India : the emerging trends and bibliography/Rana P.B. Singh. 2. The message of place in Hindu pilgrimage/David E. Sopher. 3. The Kamakhya Devi temple: symbolism sacredscape and festivities/Ravi S. Singh. 4. Pilgrimage landscape and sacred environment: Mata Vaishno Devi/Abha Chauhan. 5. Sacred performances sacred landscapes: connection and cacophony/Kiran A. Shinde. 6. Sacred landscapes of Govardhan in Braj India: imagined enacted and reclaimed/Amita Sinha. 7. Perceptions and images of tourists and pilgrims in banaras/Pravin S. Rana and Rana P.B. Singh. 8. Ritualscapes of Gaya the city of ancestors/Rana P.B. Singh. 9. Rituals and sacred space of Pandharpur India/Eric R. Sand. 10. Development and sustenance of Shirdi as a centre for religious tourism in India/Samit Ghosal and Tamal Maity. 11. Delhi Yatra: Indias Capital as a sacred symbol for political discourse/J. Daniel White. 12. Pilgrimage and religious tourism in India: countering contestation and seduction/Rana P.B. Singh. Index.