India : A Sacred Geography
Do you remember review of Benaras: The City of Light written by Diana L. Eck?
As I read more and more about her books, I am sort of liking her. The depth she had in exploring the Indic religious organisation which is very rare for someone looking from outsiders perspective.
This book India : A Sacred Geography, published in 2012 by Random House is next in series for the author wherein she has delved into the vastness of religiosity of India as a country.
The book is divided into 10 chapters starting with a detailed note on transliteration and pronunciation.
In A Sacred Geography, an imagined landscape, the author identifies tirthas as “crossings” where one’s prayers are amplified, one’s rites are more efficacious, one’s vows more readily fulfilled. The book indicted that in the ancient shastras not only geographical teerthas but also teerths of heart are referred as “manas teerthas”. These are enumerated as “truth, celibacy, charity, patience, self-control and wisdom” which one should bathe with and come clean. Infact there was associated literature with all teerths as teerth mahatmya. The author cites teerth yatras like Pandharpur in Maharashtra and Sabrimala yatra in Kerala for Swami Ayyappa.
The author states the relevance of numbers in like 3 for trivenis of rivers where 3 river meet or 3 devis. Four as relevant for 4 dhams or char dhams, five as relevance for panch koshiya parikrama. Six as evident in six faces of Murugan who is son of Lord Shiva namely Kumara, Kartikeya, Shanmuga, Guha, Skanda, Subhramnaya who is looking in all six directions. Number 7 is very auspicious with many rites associated with it along with seven sacred rivers and teerths.
In chapter 2, “What is India?” , the author explores the various facets of Indian culture and its constituents in todays nation-state concept.
She has dedicated chapter 4 to the rivers of India and majorly to the River Ganga. She enumerates the melas fairs held on the banks of River Ganga from its source to the destination i.e. Ganga Sagar where Mela in held in January every year. While writing about Kumbh she mentions the work of Kama Maclean titled "Pilgrimage and Power", “The Kumbh captures the attention and the imagination of masses of Hindus, and those seeking to capture them have sought to inject themselves into the mould.” She mentions one interesting anecdote about the linkage of Kumbakonam town in Tamil Nadu with the Kumbh mela in Prayagraj. Apart from Ganga, the rivers of Kaveri, Godavari , Narmada are discussed at length. She writes, "There is arguably no place in the world that should have a higher standard of river quality than India, for there is no other culture in which rivers have such a central role in the daily ritual lives of countless millions. There is no other place in the world where worshippers and pilgrims repair daily to the great rivers and the river fords to bathe, sip water, and make water offerings for the departed. The web of India’s rivers constitutes one of the most important religious theaters of the nation, so the crisis of environmental degradation is not only environmental. It is a cultural and theological crisis. It is not a matter of tradition that will somehow disappear with the onset of modernity. Polluted or not, India’s rivers are as busy as ever." It is very scathing remark looking on the state of our major rivers which are suffering from pollution, decomposition and decreasing water flow year by year.
Chapter 5 is dedicated to Shiva who has temples from north of Himalayas to down South. The twelve jyotirlingas are spread in such a manner that they cover entire expanse of India. Having visited all the 12 jyotirlingas in India from Kedarnath to Rameshwaram, I can say the Shivas' bhakti is unmatched and people from all castes and communities have a crazy following of Lord Shiva also known as Bhagwan Shankar or Mahadev.
Chapter 6 is dedicated to Shakti referrring to mother Goddess who is considered all powerful. The shaktipeeths which are present in entire Indian subcontinent from Tripura to Dhaka to Pakistan, represent the religious aspect of the geography. Next chapter is dedicated to lord Krishna who is an avatar of God Vishnu. In last chapter "A Pilgrim's India Today", the author discusses the growth and modernisation of India with the religion and how it has been intertwined in the growth. In this process, there is connection with climate change, pollution, technology, how the pilgrims have created a landscape of religious India.
The book explores the intersection of geography, religion and spirituality along with its pan-India explanations. Ms. Eck has been the professor of religion in Harvard and an Indologist. She has spent time in India during her project on Benaras in early 1980s. There is reflection of that work in this one also due to same theme and to the fact that Benaras has profound impact on Hinduism. The river Ganga and presence of Lord Vishesvara add to the depth in one's understanding of Hinduism through these 2 pillars.
There are many factual snippets which even the most aware practitioners of Hinduism may not know and it offers a primary source for such information. Like all of her book , the appendix and explanation add credibility and reflection of her hard work which went into this grand work. The book is also available on internet archives as a free copy and can be accessed at:
https://archive.org/details/indiaasacredgeography/page/n455/mode/1up?view=theater
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