Why Pilgrim Places

यथा शरीरस्योद्देशाः केचिन्मेध्यतमाः स्मृताः ।।

तथा पृथिव्यामुद्देशाः केचित्पुण्यतमाः स्मृताः ।। स्कन्द. काशी. ६.४३।।

प्रभावादद्भुताद्भूमेः सलिलस्य च तेजसः ।।

परिग्रहान्मुनीनाञ्च तीर्थनां पुण्यता स्मृता ।। स्कन्द. काशी. ६.४४ ।।

'Just as some parts of the body are considered better or more important than others same way some places on earth are better than others. Their earth and waters have some special powers or are abode/remembrance of some outstanding monks and divine personalities'

We all know Chardham/Four seat pilgrimage sites in Bharat, ie Rameshwaram, Jagannath Puri, Badrinath-Kedarnath and Dwarka. They were defined by revered guru Adi Shankarcharya. If we see geographically they are all located in four corners of the Indian subcontinent which is essentially rhombus in shape. Its not difficult to locate corners in a rhombus. When Adi guru defined these four dhams in four directions what exactly he had in mind? Let us first look into very essence of defining a site as a pilgrimage.

So, what are the considerations for defining a pilgrimage point? Some could be:

· Religious

· Moral

· Spiritual

· Economic

· Social

· Cultural

· Tourism

· Infrastructural

· Political

The amount of mental peace, physical rejuvenation, opportunity to understand other cultures, getting life lessons are tremendous. There is undeniable economic and infrastructural upliftment of the region. There is a social consolidation. In addition to Adi guru we had, and have, religious scholars who understood the extreme importance of pilgrimages and defined innumerable points that dot all over the Indian subcontinent from Baluchistan to Burma.

World Char Dham

But, was the phenomenon limited to Indian rhombus? No, the Indian culture well extended to South East Asia. So, the pilgrimages got extended to Malaya, Siam,Java, Sumatra, Kamboge… upto Vietnam. So, our forefathers established pilgrimages in the those lands-now politically divided into countries like Malayasia, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam. The linkages from mother country, India, got loosened. But, it has not broken!

With revival of Sanatan culture in India there is deep interest by Indian public to see their culture in lands which got dimmed in our memories last two centuries. The author has defined char dham in South East, that must be visited by Sanatanis !