Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
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Hindu Sites

23 of 427 entries in Sacred Sites. Click any to see everything it connects to.

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Sites sacred to Hinduism, among them the great temple towns of the south, the Himalayan shrines of the Char Dham, the holy city of Varanasi, and the river confluence of the Kumbh Mela.

Facts
Overview
What Defines This Grouping
Tirthas - crossing-places between the human and the divine: rivers and their confluences, sacred cities, mountain shrines and temple complexes. They are organised into several named, enumerated sets that overlap rather than nest, among them the four Dhams, the twelve Jyotirlingas, the seven sacred cities and the four Kumbh Mela sites. No single list is the list. 2
Origins
Whose Classification This Is
The enumerated sets are Puranic, not modern: the pilgrimage lists are set out in the mahatmya literature of the Puranas and elaborated in later digests, and different sectarian traditions promote different lists. 3
Directory
Category
Sacred Sites 1
Learn More
The holy places of Hinduism

This group gathers the sacred sites of Hinduism, whose sacred geography is exceptionally rich: holy rivers and their confluences, sacred cities, mountain shrines, and vast temple complexes, many the goal of pilgrimages performed for centuries. The land itself is mapped as a network of tirthas, crossing-places between the human and divine.

The browser will find the great pilgrimage cities and temples, the sacred rivers led by the Ganges, and the sites bound to particular deities and epics. The entries describe each place's deity, mythology and pilgrimage tradition, noting the sectarian traditions attached to them.

Sources
2. An Introduction to Hinduism
Gavin Flood, Cambridge University Press, 1996View the Source
3. A Survey of Hinduism
Klaus K. Klostermaier, State University of New York Press, 2007View the Source
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