Pilgrimage places in India

Religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a sacred place or shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of every major religion participate in pilgrimages. A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim.

Hinduism
Main article: Hindu pilgrimage sites in India

Most Hindus who can afford to go on such journeys travel to numerous iconic sites including those below:

These Hindu pilgrimage sites can be divided into dhams, kumbhs, jyotirlingas, devi sites etc. Every category has got its own significance. It is believed that visiting char dhams help you to attain salvation. There are Four Dhams and Twelve Jyotirlings along with 51 Shakti Peeths in India.

Sikhism

Islam

In addition to being places of ziyarat, dargahs and rauzas have often served as places for Islamic education and the training of new ulema, as centres of Sufi turuq. For example, many Sunni ulema educated in the Chishti Order were educated in Delhi, where the tomb of Nizamuddin Auliya is and where his students are well established. Movements within the ulema, such as the Deobandi or Barelvi movements, are so named because they are associated with particularly influential seminaries and madrassahs (like the Darul Uloom Deoband in Deoband, or the Urs-e-Razavi in Bareilly, the latter of which is so named because it is located at the rauza of Imam Ahmad Raza Khan).

During the Mughal era, Surat was a common port for Muslims across North and West India to depart for the Hajj.

Buddhism
Main article: Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India
  • Bodh Gaya: the place of his Enlightenment (in the current Mahabodhi Temple).
  • Sarnath: (formally Isipathana) where he delivered his first teaching.
  • Kusinara: (now Kusinagar, India) where he died.
  • Sravasti: Place of the Twin Miracle, showing his supernatural abilities in performance of miracles. Sravasti is also the place where Buddha spent the largest amount of time, being a major city in ancient India.
  • Rajgir: Place of the subduing of Nalagiri, the angry elephant, through friendliness. Rajgir was another major city of ancient India. It has strong connection with buddhism.
  • Sankasia: Place of the descending to earth from Tusita heaven (after a stay of 3 months teaching his mother the Abhidhamma).
  • Vaishali: Place of receiving an offering of honey from a monkey. Vaishali was the capital of the Vajjian Republic of ancient India.

Some other pilgrimage places in India and Nepal connected to the life of Gautama Buddha are: Pataliputta, Nalanda, Vikramshila, Gaya, Kapilavastu, Kosambi, Amaravati, Nagarjuna Konda, Sanchi, Varanasi, Kesariya, Devadaha, Pava and Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, Dhauli Stupa, near Puri, Odisha, etc.

There are many places scattered across mainland India, where one can find the relics of ancient Mauryan and the Gupta Empire, who championed and help propagate the Buddhist faith across most of India, South East and far East Asian countries.

Jainism
Main article: Tirtha (Jainism)

Zoroastrianism

The Zoroastrians take pilgrimage trips in India to the eight Atash Behrams in India and one in Yazd.

Christianity
  • Goa. St. Francis Xavier
  • St. Thomas Mount. Place where St. Thomas was martyred.
  • Vailankanni. 16th-century Marian apparition site.
  • Thodupuzha. Divine Mercy Shrine of Holy Mary :- Marian apparition site.
  • Shrine of the Infant Jesus, Nashik, Mahrashtra, .
  • St. Jude Shrine, Jhansi
  • Mount Mary Church, Bandra, Mumbai, Maharashtra
  • St Peter's and St Paul's Orthodox church ( parumala church), parumala, kerala.
  • St George Orthodox church, Puthupally.
  • Kattachira St Mary's Orthodox Church.
  • Niranam St Mary's Orthodox church.
  • St. Mary's Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Bharananganam, tomb of Saint Alphonsa, the first woman of Indian origin to be canonised as a saint by the Catholic Church, and the first canonised saint of the Syro-Malabar Church
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