Chapter XI. Tīrthayātrā (pilgrimages to holy places)

Volume IV pp. 552–584

Chapter XI. Tīrthayātrā (pilgrimages to holy places)

TĪRTHAYĀTRĀ (pilgrimages to holy places) All religions have laid great emphasis on the sacredness of certain localities and have either enjoined or recommended with great insistence pilgrimages to theṃ Among the five incumbent practical religious duties¹ of a Moslem, pilgrimage at least once in his life to Mecca and Medina, the birth place and burial place of the prophet Mohammad, is one. The four places of pilgrimage for Buddhists have been the place of the birth of Buddha (Lumbinī or Rummindei), the place where he attained perfect enlightenment (Bodh Gayā), the place where he set in motion the wheel of dharma by delivering his first sermon (at Sārnāth near Benāres) and the place where he passed away into the state of nirvāṇa (Kusinārā). Vide Mahāparinibbānasutta (S. B. E vol. XL p 90). For Christians Jerusalem has been the holiest place and no religious community except the Christians undertook in historic times several great military pilgrimageṣ The crusades were launched to free the Holy Land of Christians from the domination of Moslemṣ In spite of what Gibbon says² somewhat cynically about those who joined the crusades, it must be admitted that there were thousands among the crusaders who risked their lives and fortunes in the pursuit of an ideal. In India holy places have played a very important part. Large rivers, mountains and forests have always been venerated as sacred³ and as the abodes of godṣ In ancient and medieval India pilgrimages brought many advantages to the community as well as to the pilgrims themselveṣ Though India was divided into many kingdoms and the people of India followed several cults and sub-cults, pilgrimages tended to foster the idea of the essential and fundamental unity of Indian culture and of India also. Benares and Rāmeśvara were held sacred by all Hindus, whether they hailed from the north of India or from the peninsula. Though the Hindu community was broken up into numerous castes and suffered from caste exclusiveness, pilgrim- ages tended to level up all men by bringing them together to the same holy rivers or shrineṣ The traditions associated with holy places, the discipline through which the pilgrims passed, association with holy and philosophic men and the whole atmos- there and environment at tīrthas made it easy for pilgrims to remain at a high spiritual level and inculcated in them a mood of reverence that lasted long even after they returned from the pilgrimage. Pilgrimages supplied the much needed stimulus to draw ordinary men away from selfish pursuits and to make them think of the higher and more enduring moral and spiritual values These obvious benefits and the belief that a holy place was the abode of some divinity led ancient dharmaśāstra writers to lay emphasis on visits to tīrthas The Viṣṇu Dh. S. provides ⁴ that the dharma common to all men comprises the following: forbearance, truthfulness, restraint of the mind, cleanliness, charity, control of the senses, ahiṁsā, obedience to elders, visiting holy places, compassion, straightforwardness, freedom from avarice, honouring gods and brāhmaṇas and freedom from jealousy. Modern men whose faith in some of the aspects of the religious beliefs of our forefathers has been weakened or altogether sapped by the sight of the professional ministrants at the tīrthas and their rapacity and ignorance should not judge the ancient attitude towards tīrthas harshly.

The word tīrtha occurs frequently in the Ṛgveda and other Vedic samhitāṣ In several passages of the Ṛgveda tīrtha appears to mean a road or a way (e. g. in Ṛg. I. 169 6 'tīrthe nāryaḥ paumṣyāni tasthuh', Ṛg I. 173 11 'tīrthe nācchā tātreṣaṇam-oko', Ṛg IV. 29. 3 'karaṇ-na Indrah sutīrthābhayahyam ca'. In some places tīrtha may be taken to mean a ford in a river, as in Ṛg VIII. 47. 11 'sutīrtham-arvato yathānu no nesaṭhā sugam &c.', Ṛg. I. 46. 8 'aritram vām divas-pṛthu tīrthe sindhūnām rathah'. In Ṛg. X 31 3 'tīrthe no dasmam- upa yantyumāh', tīrtha probably means 'a holy place'. On Ṛg VIII. 19. 37 'Suvāstva adhi tugvani' the Nirukta IV. 15 explains that Suvāstu is a river and tugvan means 'tīrtha' (either a ford or a holy spot) In the Tai. S. VI 1. 1. 1-2 ⁵ it is said that the sacrificer is to bathe at a tīrtha (probably a holy river). The Rudras are said to prowl about tīrthas (ye tīrthāni pracaranto sṛkāvaṇto nisaṅginah) in Tai S IV. 5.11.1-2 and Vāj S. 16. 61 (reads 'srkāhasta'). In the Sāṅkhāyana Br. ⁶ it is said that Day and Night are the sea that absorbs every- thing and the twilights are the unfathomable tīrthas ( of the sea )'. Tīrtha also means the way between the 'utkara' and 'cātvala' pit for going to or coming from the sacrificial ground (the vṛhāra ).⁷ vide H of Dh vol II. p. 984.

It is said that, just as some parts of the human body (e. g. the right hand or ear) are held to be purer (than others), so some localities on the earth are held to be very holy. Tīrthas are held to be holy (on three grounds, viz.) on account of some wonderful natural characteristic of the locality or on account of the fact that some (holy) sages resorted to them (for bathing, austerities &c. ). tīrtha, therefore, means a locality or spot or expanse of water which gives rise to the accumulation of righteousness (merit) owing to its own peculiar nature without any adventitious circumstance (such as the presence of Śālagrāma near it).⁸ Or it is better to say that those localities that have been technically spoken of by wise and great sages as tīrthas are tīrthas, just as Pāṇini employs such technical terms as Nadi and Vṛddhi in his grammar. The Skandapurāṇa⁹ says that a spot of the earth resorted to by ancient good men for the collection of merit is called tīrtha and that the main thing is to go to (i. e. associate with holy) men and pilgrimage is only a secondary object.

In the Ṛgveda waters, rivers in general and certain named rivers¹⁰ are referred to with great reverence as holy and are deifieḍ In Ṛg VII. 49 the refrain of all four verses is 'may the divine waters protect me' (tā āpo devīr-iha māmāvantu). In Ṛg. VII. 49. 1 waters are spoken of as purifying (punanāḥ). Ṛg. VII. 47, X. 9, X. 30 ¹¹ are hymns addressed to waters as divinitieṣ They are said to purify a man not only physically but are also invoked to rid a man of all sins and lapses from the right path. The Tai. S. II. 6. 8. 3 asserts that all deities are centred in waters (āpo vai sarvā devatāḥ). In the Atharvaveda ¹² (I. 33.1) waters are described as holy and purifying and are invoked to confer happinesṣ About twenty rivers in all

flood of the Sarasvatī impinging by its powerful waves against the tops of hills is referred to in Ṛg. VI. 61. 2 and 8 ¹³. In VII. 96. 1, Sarasvatī is spoken of as asuryā (of divine origin) among riverṣ Sacrifices are said to have been performed on the Dṛṣadvatī, the Āpayā and Sarasvatī (Ṛg. III. 23. 4). In Ṛg. II. 41. 16 Sarasvatī is called the best of rivers and goddesses (ambitame naditame devitame Sarasvatī). Ṛg. I. 3. 11-12 praise ¹⁴ Sarasvatī as a river and a deity, as a purifier (pāvaka), as the impeller of sweet but truthful words and the inspirer of good thoughts and as bringing to notice its great flood of waterṣ From Ṛg. VII. 95. 2, VII. 49. 2 and I. 71. 7 it is obvious that the Ṛgvedic sages knew that the seven rivers fell into the sea. It would be proper to hold that the seven rivers are Sindhu (Indus), the five rivers of the Panjab and the Sarasvatī. Though from the Ṛgveda passages cited above it appears that in the times of the hymns of the Ṛgveda Sara- svatī was a big river with abundant waters, that it flowed between the Yamunā and Śutudri (X. 75. 5), in the times of the Brāhmaṇas it disappeared in the sands It is now gene- rally identified with the modern Sarsuti which is lost in the desert at Bhatnair. The Vāj. S. 34. 11 says that five rivers together with their tributary streams fall into Sarasvatī, ¹⁵ There were three sattras called Sārasvata, viz the first in hon- our of Mitra and Varuṇa, the 2nd for Indra and Agni and the third for Aryaman The dīkṣā (consecration ceremony) was to be performed on the south bank of the dry bed of the Saras- vatī where it disappeared underground ¹⁶ Vide Tāṇḍya Br, 25. 10 for the first Sārasvata-sattra, 25. 11 for the 2nd and 25.12 for the thirḍ The land between Vināśana and Plakṣa Prāsravaṇa (which was the source of the Sarasvatī) was the proper locality for Sārasvata sattra. At the confluence of Sarasvatī and Dṛṣadvatī an iṣṭi to Apām Napāt was performed wherein boiled rice (caru) was the offering. From the place where the Sarasvatī disappeared up to Plakṣa-Prāsravaṇa the distance was a journey on horse-back for forty days and nightṣ When the sacrificers (in the sattra) reach Plakṣa Prāsravaṇa they should stop the performance of the items of the sattra and undergo the Avabhṛtha bath near the river Yamunā (modern Jumnā) which flows through the country called Kārapacava (and not in the Sarasvatī even if it had water) For details, vide Kātyāyana Śrautasūtra (10. 15–19) which mentions (in 10. 19. 1) a spot called Parīṇah in Kurukṣetra where the Vedic fires were to be kindled, the Aśv. Ś. 12 6 1–28 which adds that at the distance of each throw of the Śamyā from the Vināśana one day is to be spent by the sacrificers, the Kātyāyana Śrauta-sūtra (24. 5–6) which states that the iṣṭi at the confluence of the Dṛṣadvatī and Sarasvatī is to be offered to Agni Kāma, Āp. Ś. S 23. 12–13 (which gives more details than any one of the other three sūtras) In the Ait. Br. a story is narrated that the sages performed a sattra on the Sarasvatī and Kavaśa who was sitting amongst them was driven out by them as not a brāhmaṇa but the son of a female slave and left in a sandy desert with the idea that he would die of thirst, but he praised the waters or Apām napāt with the hymn, Ṛg. X. 30 (‘pra devatrā brāhmaṇe’) called ‘Aponaptriya’ and Sarasvatī came rushing towards the place where Kavaśa stood and surrounded it, which (spot) thence- IV] forward came to be called ¹⁸ ‘Parisaraka’. This shows that in the times of the Ait. Br. and long before it the bed of the Sarasvati was dry. Devala ¹⁹ mentions several places as Sarasvata tīrthaṣ The Ṛgveda ²⁰ VIII. 6.28 appears to hold the valleys of mountains and the confluences of rivers are sacreḍ Mountains have been held by most ancient peoples to be the abodes of godṣ Mount Parnassus north of Delphi was one of the most holy mountains in classical Greece and Olympus was supposed to be the home of the godṣ In the Ṛgveda Parvata is a dual deity with Indra ‘O, Indra and Parvata! may you two sharpen (or purify) us (our intellects)’ Rg I 122 3 ²¹; O, Indra and Parvata! May you two, being in the forefront of battle, kill with the thunderbolt every one who desires to attack us with an army’ Rg. I. 132. 6. In Rg. VI. 49. 14 a prayer is addressed to Parvata separately ‘May the god Ahībudhnya, may Parvata and may Savitr bestow on us food together with the waters on account of our prayers’. In Rg III. 33 1 the two great rivers Vipāś (modern Beas) and Śutudrī are described as issuing from the lap of mountainṣ Here the word ‘Parvata’ is used in its ordinary sense. The Atharvaveda ²² speaks of a salve (añjana) from Traikakuda peaks of the Himālaya mountain ‘May that salve which comes off the Himālaya from Traikakuda (peaks) destroy all wizards and all witches’. The Hir. Gr. I 3 11,5 (S. B. E. vol. 30 p. 168) also refers to this salve. Gaut., Baud Dh S. and Vaṣ Dh. S. have the same sūtra ²³ stating that the ‘deśas (localities) that are holy and hence destroyers of sin are all mountains, all rivers, holy lakes, places of pilgrimage, the dwellings of sages (rṣis), cowpens and temples of the gods’. The Vāyupurāṇa ²⁴ and Kūrma state that all parts of the Himalaya are holy, the Ganges is holy everywhere, all rivers falling into the sea and all seas are holy. The Padmapurāṇa (Bhūmikhaṇḍa 39. 46-47) says that all rivers, whether flowing through a village or a forest, are holy and that where no name of a tīrtha on rivers is known it should be called Visnutirtha. Kālidāsa speaks of the Himālaya as devatātmā (as vivified by the presence of gods) in the Kumārasambhava (I. 1). The Bhāgavata V. 19.16 names 27 holy mountains while the Brahmāṇḍa (II. 16. 20-23) names thirty. The grandeur and sublimity of snow-capped mountains, of large life-sustaining rivers and of great forests easily in-press the minds of almost all people and induce them to think that there is something divine about them, that the Supreme [IV] Being is partially revealed in such surroundingṣ In Protestant Europe and the U. S. A. hardly anyone performs a pilgrimage to a holy place in these dayṣ Instead, they tour different countries for rest, health and in search of natural beauty and a respite from humdrum existence But pilgrimage to a place supposed to be holy for the curing of disease is not rare even now. When one reads a work like that of Louis Carell, a great surgeon and a winner of the Nobel prize, the miracles worked at Lourdes in France (in 'a Journey to Lourdes') one sees that pilgrimage has taken on a new motive in the West. Similarly, pilgrimage to the tombs of unknown warriors has become common owing to the two world warṣ

In Rg X. 146 a large forest ²⁵ (Araṇyānī) is invoked as a deity. The Vāmanapurāṇa mentions ²⁶ seven forests in Kurukṣetra as holy and as removers of sin, viz. Kāmyaka, Aditivana, Vyāsavana, Phalakīvana, Sūryavana, Madhuvana and Puṇyāsītavana.

In the Sūtras and ancient smṛtis like those of Manu and Yājñavalkya tīrthas do not occupy a very prominent positioṇ But in the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas they are highly lauded and placed even above sacrificeṣ In the Vanaparva ²⁷ a comparison is made between sacrifices to gods and pilgrimageṣ Sacrifices require numerous implements, collection of materials, the co-operation of priests and the presence of a wife and so they can be performed only by princes or rich meṇ They cannot be performed by poor men, who are devoid of wealth, who are without a wife and without friends, who are helplesṣ The reward that a man gets by visiting holy places cannot be secured by performing such sacrifices as Agnistoma in which large fees are paid (to priests); therefore visiting holy places is superior to sacrificeṣ But the Mahābhārata (Vanaparva 82, 9-12 and Anuśāsana 108. 3-4) lays the greatest emphasis on the cultivation of high moral and spiritual qualities if the full reward of pilgrimages is to be reapeḍ It says²⁸ 'He whose hands, feet and mind are well controlled and who possesses know- ledge, austerities and a good reputation derives the (full) reward of pilgrimageṣ He who turns his face away from receiving gifts and is content with what little he gets and is free from vanity obtains the rewards of pilgrimageṣ He, who is free from hypocrisy (or deceit), is not engaged in various undertakings (for earning money), is not a heavy eater, has subdued his senses and is (therefore) free from all sins; so also he who does not fly into a rage, who always speaks the truth, who is firm in his observances, and acts towards all beings by treating them like himself, obtains the full reward of pilgrimages'. The idea seems to be that pilgrimages may help to remove the sins of men who are not possessed of the above characteristics, while those who possess these acquire a great store of merit in additioṇ The Skanda (Kāśīkhanda 6.3) asserts 'snāna cannot be predicated of a man whose body alone is flooded with water; that man who is plunged in restraint of senses, who is pure, relieved of all taint and is stainless, is alone to be called snāta' (as having had a bath). The Anuśāsana has almost the same words (108.9),²⁹ The Vāyupurāṇa states³⁰ ‘A steadfast (or wise) man visiting tīrthas with faith and controlling his senses would be purified even if he has been guilty of sins; what need is there to say about him whose actions have been pure? One who has no faith, who is full of sins, whose mind is not free from doubts (about the rewards of pilgrimages and the rites there), who is an atheist and who is bent on bad reasoning—these five do not reap the rewards of pilgrimages’. The Skandapurāṇa (I. I. 31. 37) remarks that all holy places, sacrifices and various gifts are meant for cleansing the mind (of its sins and sinful proclivities, manaḥ-śuddhi). The Padmapurāṇa (IV. 80. 9) remarks sacrifices, _vratas_, _tapas_ and _dāna_ cannot be carried out fully in the Kali age; but bathing in the Ganges and taking the name of Hari are free from all defectṣ The Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa³¹ puts the matter very clearly when it says ‘When resort is made to a tīrtha, it removes the sins of the sinful and tends to the increase of merit in the case of the good and that a holy place yields fruit to men of all varṇas and āśramaṣ’ Some of the Purāṇas (such as Skandapurāṇa, Kāśīkhaṇḍa 6, Padma, Uttarākhāṇḍa, 237) say that in addition to the holy places on land (_bhauma_) there are certain virtues that may be called mental tīrthas (in a figurative sense). According to them ‘truthfulness, forbear-ance, restraint of the senses, compassion for all beings, straight-forwardness, charity, self-control, contentment, celibacy (brahmacarya), sweet speech, knowledge, patience, austerity, are tīrthas and the highest tīrtha is purity of minḍ’ They further state that a man who is avaricious, wicked, cruel, hypocritical and immersed in pleasures of senses is still sinful and impure even if he bathes in all tīrthas and that fish are born and die in holy waters but they do not go to heaven because their minds are not purified and that even charity, sacrifices, austerity, cleanliness, frequenting sacred places, learning—all these are not tīrthas, if the mind is not pure.³² The Brahmapurāṇa (25.4-6) states 'a heart that is wicked is not purified by baths at holy places, just as a vessel in which surā (liquor) was carried remains impure even after being washed with water hundreds of times, that tīrthas, gifts, vratas, or (residence in) hermitages do not purify a man whose heart is wicked, who resorts to hypocrisy and whose senses run away (are uncontrolled). Wherever a man who has his senses under control may dwell, there are present Kurukṣetra, Prayāga and Puṣkara'. The Vāmanapurāṇa has a fine³³ Rūpaka about the soul being a river full of the water of control, flowing with truth and having character as the bank and the waves of compassion (for all beings) and states that the soul cannot be purified by water. The Padmapurāṇa (II. 39. 56-61) extends the meaning and scope of tīrthas by remarking that places where Agnihotra and śrāddha are performed, a temple, a house where Veda is being studied, a cowpen, the place where a soma drinker dwells, parks, a place where the Aśvattha exists, a place where Purāṇa is being recited or where one's teacher stands or where a chaste housewife dwells, or where a father and a worthy son dwell are all holy.

Numberless tīrthas and holy shrines have been mentioned from ancient timeṣ The Matsyapurāṇa states³⁴ that Vāyu declared that there are 35 millions of tīrthas in the sky, in the ærial regions and on the earth and all of them are centred in the Ganges; while the Vāmanapurāṇa 46. 53 states that there are 35 millions of Lingaṣ The Brahmapurāṇa says that the number of tīrthas and shrines is so large that they cannot be enumerated in detail even in hundreds of yearṣ The Vanaparva ³⁵ remarks that Naimiṣa is the (best) tīrtha on the earth and Puṣkara in the aerial region, while Kurukṣetra is the most distinguished in all the three worlds and that all the ten thousand crores of tīrthas are present in Puṣkara (chap 82, 21) New tīrthas were added from time to time and the monetary benefits derived by the permanent residents and particularly by the tīrtha priests led them to prepare numerous māhātmyas of an apocryphal character and father them on Vyāsa, the reputed author of the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇaṣ Most of the writers of digests on tīrthas follow a process of selectioṇ The Tīrthakalpataru of Lakṣmīdhara, one of the earliest digests (about 1110–1120 AD), devotes more than half the work to Vāraṇāsī and Prayāga alone, assigns only two or three pages to such famous tīrthas as Puṣkara, Pṛthūdaka, Kokāmukha, Badarīkāśrama, Kedāra. The Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Tīrthasāra) mostly deals with tīrthas in the Deccan and southern India such as Setubandha, Puṇḍarīka (modern Pandharpur), Godāvarī, Kṛṣṇā-veṇyā, Narmadā. The Tri-sthalīsetu of Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa devotes two-thirds of it to Benāres and its sub-tīrthas and the rest to Prayāga and Gayā. This unequal treatment arose from various causes, such as the localities where the authors lived, their familiarity with the holy places and their predilectionṣ There was also another tendency among the authors of Purāṇas, Māhātmyas and digests viz. that of great exaggeration and over-statement which is often repellent. If a man reads the description of one tīrtha and does not discount much as sheer hollow laudation, he is likely to feel that a pilgrimage to a certain tīrtha will yield all the desires in this life as well in the next and that after visiting a holy tīrtha like Kāśī or Prayāga he need not go to any other tīrtha, nor need he perform any yajña or act of charity and the like. A few striking passages may be cited here. The Vanaparva remarks that ³⁶ even gods and sages secured perfection at Puskarā and that whoever takes a bath there and devoutly worships gods and his pitṛs secures rewards ten times of what the performance of Aśvamedha might give. About this very tīrtha viz. Puskarā, the Padmapurāṇa says that there is no holier tīrtha in this worlḍ The Vāmanapurāṇa (83. 145) in its eulogy of Pṛthūdaka asserts that Kurukṣetra is holy, that Sarasvati is holier than Kurukṣetra and that Pṛthūdaka is holier than all other tîrthaṣ The Matsyapurāṇa puts the ³⁷ comparative holiness of several tīrthas thus 'the waters of the Sarasvatî purify after (one bathes for) three days, those of Yamunā in seven days, those of the Ganges at once, while the water of the Narmadā purifies a man at sight of it.' In its eulogy of Vārāṇasī the Kūrma-purāṇa states 'there is no place higher than Vārāṇasī nor will there be one' (I. 31. 64). The inveterate habit of exaggeration goes so far that it is said that by merely residing in Kāśī till one's death not only does a man become free from the great sin of brāhmaṇa murder but from the never-ending cycle of births and deaths and is not born agaiṇ³⁸ The Lingapurāṇa says the same thing. The Vāmanapurāṇa remarks ³⁹ that mukti (release from saṁsāra) can be secured in four ways, viz. by knowledge of Brahman, by śrāddha at Gayā, by loss of life in repelling the carrying away of cows and by residence in Kurukṣetra and that those who die in Kurukṣetra never come down (to the earth). Mere residence in Kāśī was so much lauded that the Matsya (181. 23), the Agni (112. 3) and other Purāṇas say that after repairing to Kāśī one should smash one's feet with a stone (in order that one may not be induced to visit another tīrtha⁴⁰ and stay in Kāśī forever.

The Brahmapurāṇa classifies tīrthas into four divisions⁴¹ viz. daiva (created by gods), āsura (those associated with such asuras as Gayā), ārṣa (those established by sages) such as Prabhāsa, Naranārāyaṇa and mānusa (created by kings like Ambarīṣa, Manu, Kuru) and provides that each preceding one is superior to each succeeding one. It enumerates six rivers to the south of the Vindhya and six rivers having their sources in the Himālayas as most holy and as devatīrthas, viz. Godāvarī, Bhīmarathī, Tuṅgabhadra, Veṇikā, Tāpī, Payoṣṇī, Bhāgīrathī, Narmadā, Yamunā, Sarasvatī, Viśokā, and Vitastā. Similarly, Kāśī, Puṣkara and Prabhāsa are devatīrthas (Tīrthapr. p 18). The Brahmapurāṇa (175. 31–32) assigns daiva, āsura, ārṣa and mānusa tīrthas respectively to the Kṛta, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali yugaṣ

There is a good deal of discussion in the Purāṇas and digests about those who are entitled or have the eligibility or capacity (adhikāra) for tīrthayātrā. The Vanaparva⁴² provides that brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas and śūdras, when they have bathed in holy places, are not born agaiṇ The same work further states that whatever sin a man or a woman may have committed from birth, the moment a person takes a bath in the holy Puṣkara all that sin vanishes⁴³. Therefore not only men but women also had the right to undertake tīrthayātrā. The Matsyapurāṇa⁴⁴ goes further and asserts that ‘Avimukta (Vārānasī) is the highest cure for men of numerous castes, for men not (recognized as) belonging to any particular varṇa, for cāṇḍālas who are abhorred (by people) and for persons whose bodies are full of diseases and of aggravated sins⁴⁵. It is stated in the Vāmanapurāṇa: persons of all the four āśramas (i. e. brahmacārins, householders, forest hermits and sannyā- sins) by bathing in the tīrtha (mentioned by it) save seven generations in their families and that persons belonging to the four varṇas and women, when they bathe in tīrthas with devotion, see the highest goal. It was provided by the Brahmapurāṇa that a brahmacārin can undertake a pilgrimage only if ordered or directed by his guru, and that a householder whose wife is alive and is chaste must go on a pilgrimage with her; otherwise he would not reap the fruit of pilgrimage. The Padmapurāṇa (Bhūmikhaṇḍa chap. 59–60) narrates the story of a vaiśya called Kṛkala who went on a pilgrimage with- out his virtuous wife and did not reap the fruits of a long pilgrimage (bhāryām vinā yo dharmaḥ sa eva viphalo bhavet, 59. 33). The Tīrthacintāmaṇi and Tīrthaprakāśa quote a passage (from the Kūrmapurāṇa) which glorifies Vārāṇasī (called Avimukta there) as follows⁴⁶: ‘brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, śūdras, persons of mixed castes (varṇasaṅkara), women, mlecchas and others who are born in evil forms and are of mixed blood, worms, ants, birds and beasts when they die in Avimukta are born as human beings in Benāres and no one guilty of sins dying in Avimukta goes to Hell’. As regards⁴⁷ women and śūdras, a smṛti verse provided ‘Japa, tapas, pilgrim- age to holy places, becoming an ascetic (sannyāsin), efforts to attain mastery over mantras and worshipping deities (as a priest)—these six lead to sinfulness in the case of women and śūdraṣ śūdraṣ This was explained away by stating that this text refers to undertaking pilgrimage without the husband's permission (in the case of a woman) and as to a śūdra in such a way as to be opposed to the primary duty of a śūdra to wait upon learned brāhmaṇas (as laid down in Manu X. 123). Kātyāyana⁴⁸ as quoted in the Vyavahāramayūkha provides 'whatever a woman does that relates to (benefit in) a future state (i. e. state after death) without the permission of her (husband's) father, husband or son, would become fruitless'. It is clear therefore that it was recognized early that tīrthāyātrā was a popular way for redemption of sins in the case of all classes of men and womeṇ Though a Hindu woman succeeding as heir to her husband's estate has only a limited and qualified ownership over it, judicial decisions have recognized that she can alienate a small portion of her husband's estate for the expenses of a pilgrimage to Gayā for performing her husband's śrāddha for the latter's spiritual benefit or of a pilgrimage to Pandharpur. Vide Muteeram v. Gopal 11 Beng. L. R. 416; Darbari Lal v. Gobind 46 All. 822; Ganpat v. Tulsiram 36 Boṃ 88 (pilgrimage to Pandharpur)⁴⁹ It was also provided that there was no question of untouchability⁵⁰ when bathing in holy waterṣ There is a verse of Bṛhaspati: ‘At holy places, in marriages, in a religious festival (or procession), in a battle, when there is an invasion of the country and when a town or village is on fire, no blame attaches on the ground of incurring contact with untouchable persons or thingṣ’

In order to guard against the facile assumption that without a change of heart or change in one's sinful mode of life a mere physical act of pilgrimage and bath in holy waters would be enough, some of the texts in the Mahābhārata and Purāṇas adopted two propositions: viz the one noted above that it is the pure mind that is a real tīrtha and further emphasized that it is better to stay at home and perform all the duties of a householder including the perform- ance of vedic sacrifices than to go on a pilgrimage. The Śānti- parva ⁵¹ in the dialogue between Tulādhāra and Jājali (a brāhmaṇa proud of his tapas) asserts that purodāśa is the holiest of offerings, that all rivers are (holy like) Sarasvati and all hillocks (and not merely Himālaya and the like) are holy, that one's soul is a tīrtha and advises Jājali not to be a guest (i. e. to be wandering in quest of tīrthas) to several countrieṣ The Tīrthacintāmaṇi and Tīrthaprakāśa quote passages from the Brahmapurāṇa that a brāhmaṇa should wander about tīrthas after his capacity to perform sacrifices has come to an end, that it is better for a man to stay at home and perform the duties of an householder when he has the capacity and authority to perform iṣṭis and yajñas, and that all the tīrthas do not come up (in their rewards) to the performance of agnihotra. ⁵² The Kūrmapurāṇa ⁵³ has the following remark- able verses on this point. ‘That person who abandoning his proper duties⁵³ resorts to tīrthas does not reap the fruits of pilgrimage in this world as well as in the next. A person who has to undergo an expiation (for a sin), or who is a widower or who is a householder of the yāyāvara⁵⁴ type or similar persons may resort to pilgrimageṣ One may go to holy places with his vedic fires or with his wife; he becomes free from all sins and secures the best goal as stated above. One who wants to go on pilgrimages should pay off the three debts, should provide means of maintenance for his sons and should consign his wife to their care.

Ancient writers on Dharmaśāstra favoured pilgrimages by prescribing, as stated in the Viṣṇu Dh. S, that⁵⁵ no money was to be demanded from a Vedic student, a forest hermit, an ascetic, a pregnant woman and a pilgrim by a ferryman or by a toll officer and that if he took money from such persons he was to be made to return it. But this prescription was not invariably followed even by Hindu Kingṣ The Rajataraṅgiṇī (VI 254-255 and VII, 1008) notices that a tax was levied on Kashmirians performing śrāddhas at Gayā.⁵⁶ It appears that Siddharāja king of Anahilavāḍ (1095-1143 A. D.) levied a tax on pilgrims going to Somanātha at the frontier town Bahuloḍa, that he remitted the tax at the intercession of his mother and that the tax thus remitted amounted to 72 lakhs of rupees every year (this last may be an exaggeration to glorify Siddharāja).⁵⁷ Moslem kings levied this tax. It appears that a great writer called Kavindrācārya took up the cause of Hindu pilgrims visiting Prayāga and Kāśī and so eloquently pleaded it before Emperor Shah Jehan that the latter remitted the tax altogether. and conferred upon the great scholar ⁵⁸ the title of 'Sarva- vidyā-nidhāna'. People throughout India felt such relief at the remission of the tax that congratulatory letters and addresses (several of them couched in very poetic language) poured upon Kavindrācārya. These have been published in a work styled 'Kavindra-candroddaya' by Dr. Har Dutta Sharma and Mr. M. M. Patkar (in the Poona Oriental series), a characteristic verse from which is quoted below ⁵⁹ In a remarkable copper- plate Inscription in Sanskrit ⁶⁰ and Kannada issued by the Hoysala king Narasimha III in Māgha śake 1200 (1279 A. D) it is said that the king granted the revenues (amounting to 645 niṣkas a year) of a village called Hebbāle to the pilgrims of Kāśī and to god Śrīviśveśvara for the purpose of enabling the pilgrims to Benares (including those from the whole of Karnāṭaka, from the countries of Telingana, Tulu, Tirhut, Gauda and others) to pay off the tax levied by the Turuṣkas (Moslem kings).⁶⁰

The digests quote certain verses of the Brahmapurāṇa about the rites to be performed when a person decides to start on a pilgrimage. The Brahmapurāṇa provides that the intend- ing pilgrim should restrain his senses the previous day, should observe a fast and on the next day he should offer wor- ship to Gaṇeśa, the gods, the pitṛs and honour good brāhmaṇas according to his ability and when he returns from the pilgrimage he should offer similar worship and honour.⁶¹ The digests explain that on return there is no fast and no worship of Gaṇeśa. He should perform śrāddha in which there is plenty of ghee, honour three brāhmaṇas (at least) with the offer of sandalwood paste &c. and then make a resolve (saṅkalpa) to go on pilgrim- age. The Vāyupurāṇa ⁶² and the digests lay down that (after the worship of Gaṇeśa, the planets and the deities) he should put on the dress of a kārpați viz. wear a copper-ring, a copper bracelet and reddish garmentṣ Bhattoji (p 5) states that according to some the apparel of kārpațika is to be put on by a pilgrim going to Gayā. The Padma (IV. 19. 22) prescribes the pilgrim’s dress for other tīrthas also. The Tīr. C. adds that this dress is to be worn only on the journey to a tīrtha, when the pilgrim is in a tīrtha, but not at the time of performing his daily duties such as taking meals (p. 9).

There is a difference of opinion among the digests as to whether tonsure of the head is obligatory when starting on a pilgrimage. The Padmapurāṇa ⁶³ and Skandapurāṇa appear to make it obligatory. The Tīrtha-Kalpataru does not ⁶⁴ refer to tonsure at all, while a fast at a tīrtha is declared by it to be optional. The tendency of later digest-writers is generally to make every religious act more elaborate and harder. The tonsure of the head and beard was prescribed for a sacrificer when undertaking such solemn Vedic sacrifices as Cāturmāsyas and Agniṣṭoma,⁶⁵ The termination of the stage of Vedic studenthood (samāvartana) was also marked by tonsure.⁶⁶ Further, tonsure was prescribed when undergoing prāyaścitta for sins (vide p. 122 above). The Tir. C. and Tir. Pr. quote a verse of Viṣṇu⁶⁷ from the Smṛtisamuccaya, viz. ‘at Prayāga, on a pilgrimage, on the death of one’s father or mother one should cut one’s hair; but one should not cut one’s hair without cause.’ The Mit. on Yāj. III. 17 quotes a verse as follows: ‘On the Ganges, in Bhāskarakṣetra, on the death of one’s father, mother and guru, at the time of consecrating Vedic fires and at a some sacrifice—tonsure is prescribed in these seven caseṣ Some read ‘satsu’ and therefore they take the first two words as meaning ‘on the Ganges only at Prayāga.’ Both Tir. C. and Tir. Pr. quote a verse ⁶⁸ which says that tonsure and fast are acts that must be done at all tīrthas except at Kurukṣetra, Viśālā (Ujjayinī or Badarikā), Virajā (river in Orissa) and Gayā.’ In the case of a snātaka, all the hair except the top-knot is cut and IV] in the case of women whose husbands are living only two finger-breadths of hair are cut. Vṛddha-Hārīta (IX. 386-387) lays down that in the case of women whose husbands are living tonsure of the head should not be carried out, but that holding up all their hair only three finger-breadths should be cut off. Other smṛtis like Āpastamba in verse (I. 33-34), Aṅgiras verse 163, Yama 54-55, Parāśara q. by the Mitākṣarā on Yaj. III. 263-264 lay down that tonsure is limited to the cutting of two finger-breadths of hair in the case of women (nārī). Par. M. ⁶⁹ II. 1. p. 291 reads ‘evam nārikumāriņām’ and holds that nārī means here ‘a woman whose husband is alive’. Although the smṛti passages occur in the section on prāyaścitta still by analogy they are to be applied to the tonsure in holy placeṣ As regards widows, ascetics ⁷⁰ and śūdras all hair are to be cut. The Tīrthaprakāśa finds fault with Vācaspatimiśra for saying that there is no tonsure on the Gangeṣ When there is such a conflict of views, the final decision rests with the usage of each country or the individual’s choice. The Tīr. K. (p 10) appears to hold that honouring the pitṛs at the time of starting on a pilgrimage is specially obligatory on a man with meanṣ The texts make a difference between kṣaura and muṇḍana. The latter means ‘shaving the hair on the head as well as the moustache and beard,’ while kṣaura means only shaving the heaḍ Therefore the Nāradīya says that all sages did not prohibit kṣaura even at Gayā but only muṇḍana is forbidden there ⁷⁰ and there is no muṇḍana on the Ganges anywhere except at Prayāga. The Tīrthenduśekhara (p 7) gives it as its opinion that tonsure and fast are not obligatory but are only kāmya (i. e. to be done if certain rewards are desired) and points out that śiṣṭas do not resort to these two at many tīrthaṣ The Purāṇas and digests devote some attention to the mode of travel. The Matsya (106. 4-6) states that ⁷¹ if a pilgrim goes to Prayāga in a conveyance drawn by bulls he falls into hell and his pitṛs do not accept the water offered by him at the holy place and if a pilgrim because of riches or avarice or foolishness goes in a conveyance (not drawn by bulls) all his effort (as a pilgrim) becomes fruitless and therefore a pilgrim should avoid journey in a conveyance. According to the Kalpataru (on tīrtha p. 11) using a conveyance is forbidden only in the case of pilgrimage to Prayāga (and not in the case of other tīrthas), while the Tir. C. (p. 8) and Tir. Pr. (p. 45) quote a verse ⁷² which provides that if a pilgrim uses a cart drawn by bulls he is guilty of govadha (killing a cow), if he travels on horse-back (or in a horse-drawn carriage) his pilgrimage yields no fruit, if he is carried by men (in a palanquin or the like) he secures only half the merit but if he travels bare-footed then he wins the full merit. The Padma-purāṇa (IV. 19. 27) has a similar verse. The Tir. Pr. p. 34 quotes a verse from the Kūrmapurāṇa that those who are unable to perform a pilgrimage otherwise do not incur blame (or loss) by making use of a conveyance drawn by men or a chariot which is drawn by mules or horseṣ Similarly, a verse of the Viṣṇupurāṇa ⁷³ quoted by both Tir C and Tir. Pr. (pp. 34-35) provides that one should always go on a journey wearing shoes and holding an umbrella in the rains or in summer and armed with a staff at night or in a forest. The Viṣṇudharmottara takes a more practical view when it says that to make a pil- grimage on foot is the highest tapas (austerity) and that if a pilgrimage be made in a conveyance the pilgrim will reap only the reward of the bath. The Tir. Pr. (p. 35) allows the use of a vessel to reach holy places like Gangāsāgara which cannot be reached otherwise.

The Trīsthali-setu (pp. 1-3) has a long discussion about the saṅkalpa ⁷⁴ (declaration) to be made at the time of start- ing on a pilgrimage. The conclusions reached are that the declaration should not include the names of all the holy places intended to be visited, but should expressly state the last one up to which one desires to go, that persons from southern or western India should make a saṅkalpa about Gayā (and pilgri- mage to Prayāga and Kāśī will be implied) and that a person from East India should make a saṅkalpa about Prayāga (and pilgrimage to Gayā and Kāśī will be included as a matter of course) and that (as an alternative method) a man from south or west India should at first make a saṅkalpa about pilgrimage to Prayāga, then while in Prayāga he should make a saṅkalpa about visiting Kāśī and then in Kāśī he should make a saṅkalpa about visiting Gayā. A pilgrim from Eastern India should first make a saṅkalpa about Gayā, then, while in Gayā, he should make one about Kāśī and so oṇ The Tīrthaprakāśa (p. 326) appears to criticize the first method proposed by the Trīsthalīsetu and states its own view to be that those who intend to visit many sacred places should make a saṅkalpa in the form ‘I shall perform pilgrimage’ (Tīrtha-yātrāmaham karişye). The Tīrthaprakāśa, however, approves of the second method proposed as an alternative.

That the merit of a pilgrimage could be collected in a vicarious manner is laid down by the Smṛtis and Purāṇaṣ Atri (50-51) provides ⁷⁵ ‘He for whom an effigy made with kuśa grass intending it as a representative is dipped in the waters of a holy place secures one-eighth part of the merit (that he would have secured by himself bathing in the waters). If a man takes a bath (in a holy place) having in view (the benefit of his mother, father, brother, friend or guru, these latter receive one-twelfth of the fruit (of the pilgrimage). Another verse of Paithinasi says that he who visits a holy place for money (wages) from another gets only a 16th part of the merit, but he who goes to a tīrtha while bent on another purpose or errand (such as study, business, waiting on a guru) ⁷⁶ reaps only half the merit. The Visnudharmottara has a similar verse. It was owing to this idea of collecting merit and God's Grace that wealthy men built Dharmasālās, tanks, and annasattras and wells for the conveniences of pilgrims and the planting of trees by the sides of roads had in view the comfort of pilgrims as well as of the general public. The Prabhāsa khanda remarks 'A wealthy man who enables another to perform pilgrimage by providing his own money or conveyances gets one-fourth of the merit of the pilgrimage.' ⁷⁷

The Prāyaścittatattva of Raghunandana quotes from the Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa some verses which enumerate fourteen acts that a pilgrim has to give up after reaching the Ganges viz. śauca (punctilious performance of bodily purification), ācamana (sipping water on various occasions in the day), hair (dressing), wearing nirmālya (flowers taken away after being offered in worship), repeating the Aghamarsana hymn (Rg. 190, 1-3), shampooing the body, sports, acceptance of gifts, sexual dalliance, devotion to another tīrtha, praising another tīrtha, the gift to others of clothes (worn by oneself), striking any one and swimming across the water of the tīrtha.

One noticeable rule is that, though Manu III. 149 requires strict examination of the ancestry and learning of brāhmaṇas to be invited at a śrāddha, some of the Purāṇas provide ⁷⁸ that IV ] one should not enter upon an examination of the worth of brāhmaṇas at holy places and this view is endorsed by seve- ral digests such as the Kalpataru on tīrtha (p. 10), the Tīr. C. Pr. (p 73). The last work remarks that brāhmaṇas who are known for certain to possess defects deser- ving condemnation should be avoideḍ The Varāhapurāṇa goes⁷⁹ so far as to say that at Mathurā a pilgrim should prefer to honour a brāhmaṇa born and bred up in Mathurā rather than a brāhmaṇa who has studied the four Vedas (but is a stranger to Mathurā). Similar passages from the Vāyu and Skanda- purāṇa have been quoted above in note 910 and there is another similar passage in Skanda. It is provided by the Vāyupurāṇa⁸⁰ that when a son goes to Gayā, he should invite only those brāhmaṇas that have been settled in Gayā by Brahmā and that such brāhmaṇas are above ordinary mortals, that when they are gratified the gods together with one's putras become pleased, that one should not enter upon a consideration of their family, their character, their learning or their austerities and that when the Gayā brāhmaṇas are honoured the man doing so secu- res release (from saṁsāra). In Vāyu 106 73-84 and Agni 114. 33-39 and Garuḍa it is narrated that, after Gayāsura fell down and asked for boons which were granted by Viṣṇu, Brahmā bestowed upon the Gayā brāhmaṇas 55 villages and Gayātīrtha extending over five krośas, gave them well-appointed houses, desire-yielding cows and trees, but he enjoined on them not to beg or accept a gift from otherṣ The brāhmaṇas, however, greedy as they were, officiated at a sacrifice performed by Dharma (Yama) and begged him for fees and accepted theṃ Then Brahmā cursed them that they would always be in debt and took away the Kāmadhenu and Kalpavṛkṣa and other giftṣ The Agnipurāṇa ⁸¹ (114. 37) adds that Brahmā cursed them to be bereft of all learning and to be full of greeḍ The brāhmaṇas then begged Brahmā to favour them with some means of liveli- hood (as they had been deprived by the curse of Brahmā of all that had been bestowed on them). Brahmā pitied them and told them that they would maintain themselves at Gayā-tīrtha till the end of the world and that those who would perform śrāddha at Gayā and worship them (by engaging them as officiating priests and pay them) would secure the merit of having worshipped Brahmā From this it is clear that the Gayā brāhmaṇas at the time of the composition of the section on Gayā at the end of the Vāyupurāṇa possessed the same characteristics as the modern Gayā brāhmaṇas (Gayāls or Gayāwals as they are called) and made the Gayā pilgrimage their business even then (as now). One of the early historic references to Gayāl brāhmaṇas occurs in the Śaktipur copper-plate of king Lakṣmaṇasena of Bengal in his 6th year (i. e. about 1183 A. D.)⁸².

The result of this teaching of the Purāṇas was that the brāhmaṇas at Gayā became a guild or a close corporation and the Gayāwals resent the intrusion of an outsider. Disputes between Gayāwals and outside priests and cases of Gayāwals have come before the courts and have gone up even to the Privy Council in Englanḍ It has been a usage for orthodox Hindu pilgrims going to Gayā to shave themselves at the river called Punpun,⁸² then on arrival at Gayā to worship the feet of one of the Gayāwal brāhmaṇaṣ The Gayāwal himself or his agent takes the pilgrim to the sacred spots (Vedīs) in and around Gayā. The priest is paid a fat fee near the Akṣaya-vaṭa and the Gayāwal puts a garland of flowers on the folded hands of the pilgrim and pronounces the word ‘suphala’ and utters a blessing that the pilgrim’s ancestors would go to heaven on account of the pilgrim’s visit to Gayā. In order to keep this business in their own families the Gayāwals have adopted loose and peculiar customṣ If a Gayāwal is sonless he makes a gift of his office (called gūdī or gaddī) to another Gayāwal, who describes himself as the adopted son of the Gayāwal making the gift. There is no real adoption in the strict sense. Therefore, the so called adopted son retains his rights in the family of birth, he is not severed from his natural family and it is not rare to find that one Gayāwal claims to have succeeded to four gūdīs (i. e. claims to be the son adopted by several persons simultaneously). The Gayāwals have got books in which they enter the names and addresses of their clients, who sign such entries and enjoin upon their descendants to make members of that particular Gayāwal family their gurus whenever they might visit Gayā. Thus large incomes and properties come to the hands of the Gayāwalṣ They send their agents throughout India, who bring as many pilgrims as possible. In Lachman Lal v. Kanhaya Lal⁸³ the Privy Council had to deal with the case of a Gayāwal who claimed to be an adopted son without loss of his interest in the property of the natural family on the ground of these peculiar practices of the Gayāwals and that claim was uphelḍ In Lachman Lal v. Baldeo Lal⁸⁴ the Patna High Court gives a brief summary of the origin, history and customs of the Gayāwals, remarks that though in former times there were several hundred families of Gayāwals their number is now reduced to about 150, that the Gayāwals so-called gaddī is not a hereditary office, but only a business to which a good will is attacheḍ The Calcutta High Court decided in Dwarka nath Misser⁸⁵ v. Rampertab Misser that persons who require religious ceremonies to be performed for their benefit are at liberty to choose the priest by whom they shall be performed, that plaintiffs are not entitled to a declaration that they along with defendants are exclusively entitled to officiate as priests when pilgrims, on their way to the holy city of Gayā, perform the śrāddha ceremony of their ancestors on the bank of the sacred river Punpun, and that the plaintiffs could be given a declaration that they are entitled to officiate as priests for such pilgrims as may choose to employ them for the purpose of religious ceremonies and that the defendants are not entitled to prevent the plaintiffs from the exercise of their calling. In Narayan Lal⁸⁶ v. Chulhan Lal the Calcutta High Court decided how the books containing the names and addresses of pilgrims kept by a joint family of Gayāwals were to be divided at the time of the partition of all the properties of the family.

The literature on tīrthas is probably far more extensive than on any other single topic of Dharmaśāstra Not to mention the Vedic Literature, the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas contain on a very modest calculation at least 40000 verses on tīrthas, sub-tīrthas and legends connected with theṃ In the Vanaparva (chap. 82-156) and Śalyaparva (chap. 35-54) alone there are about 3900 verses on tīrthayātrā. To mention only a few of the purāṇas, the Brahmapurāṇa devotes about 6700 verses (i. e. nearly half of its total extent of 13783 verses) to tīrthas, the Padma about 4000 verses out of the 31000 verses of the first five khaṇḍas, the Varāhapurāṇa devotes about 3182 verses to tīrthas (out of which about 1400 refer to Mathurā) out of about 9614 verses, the Matsya about 1200 verses out of 14002. Besides these, the following well-known digests and works on tīrthas deserve mentioṇ The Tīrthavivecana-kāṇḍa of the Kalpataru of Lakṣmīdhara (G. O. S. series); the Caturvarga-cintāmaṇi of Hemādri (1260-1270 A D) contained a section on tīrthas (no Mṣ has yet been discovered), the Tīrthacintāmaṇi of Vācaspati (1450-1480 A. D.) published in B. I. series, the Tīrtha-sāra, part of Nṛsiṁhaprāsāda about 1500 A. D. (published in the Sarasvatī-bhāvana series); the Trīsthalasetu of Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa (about 1550-1580 A. D.) printed by the Ānandāśrama Press, Poona; Tīrthasaukhya, a part of Todarānanda (1565-1589 A. D.), Tīrthayatrā or Tīrthayātrāvidhitattva of Raghunandana whose literary activity lies between 1520-1570 A D. (printed in Bengali characters and over and above the 28 tattvas of his Smṛtitattva), Tīrthaprakāśa by Mitramiśra about 1610-1640 (published in the Chowkhamba Sanskrit series), the Tristha-līsetusāra-saṁgraha of Bhaṭṭoji (about 1625); Tristhalīsetusāra-saṁgraha of Nāgeśa, the Tīrthenduśekhara of Nāgeśa or Nāgojī (published in the Sarasvatībhāvana series, Benares, 1936). There are several works on tīrthas (not yet printed) mentioned in H. of Dh. vol 1. p. 554, of which the Tīrtharatnākara of Anantabhaṭṭa composed at the order of Anūpasiṁha is probably the largest work on tīrthas (ms no. 1822 in the Anup Library at Bikaner). Besides these there are special works on indivi- dual tīrthas such as the Ganga-vākyāvali⁸⁸ (on the Ganges) of Vidyāpati (1400-1450 A. D.) published by Dr. J. B. Chaudhuri; Kāśīmrtimokṣa-vicāra of Sureśvarācārya (published in the Sarasvatibhavana Texts series, Benares 1936); the Gayāśrāddha-paddhati of Raghunandana, the Puruṣottama-kṣetratattva of Raghunandana (published by Jivananda). Only printed works have been drawn upon in this work (except where expressly stated otherwise).

The preliminaries before starting on a pilgrimage to any tīrtha prescribed by the purāṇas and digests may be brought together. On a certain day (when a person has decided on tīrtha-yātrā) he should take only one meal, then the next day he should shave himself (according to most digests) and observe a fast; then on the day after the fast he should perform his daily duties, should make a sankalpa (declaration of intention) in the form 'I shall perform a pilgrimage to such and such a place and I shall worship Gaṇeśa and my favourite deities for the accomplishment of the pilgrimage without obstacles'; offer worship to Gaṇeśa, to the planets (nine) and his favourite deities with five or sixteen upacāras,⁸⁹ then perform a pārvana-śrāddha with plenty of ghee according to his own gṛhyasūtra, honour three brāhmaṇas at least and donate some money to theṃ Then he should put on a pilgrim's dress as described above (p. 573), go round the village in which his house is located (or at least round his own house), reach another village not more distant than one krosa (two or two and half miles) and break his fast by eating the remainder of the food cooked and ghee used for the śrāddha (this applies to pilgrimage to Gayā). He may break his fast in his own house (in the case of other tīrthas) and then start. Then the next day he should bathe with pure clothes on and then put on his pilgrim dress and start on his pilgrim- age in the forenoon with his face to the east, preferably bare-footeḍ There are two views here. Some say that on the day on which a man reaches a tīrtha he should observe a fast, while the other view is that the pilgrim should fast on the day previous to his reaching the tīrtha. In the first case he will have to perform a śrāddha on the day of the fast and in that case he cannot actually taste the remnants of śrāddha food but should only smell the cooked food The Kalpataru (on tīrtha p 11) and the tīrtha-cintāmani (p 14) quote Davala for the proposition that a fast on reaching a tīrtha is not obligatory, but if observed yields special merit. .