Tirthas or pilgrimage sites have great religious significance in Hinduism according to scriptures like the Puranas. Visiting tirthas generates spiritual merit and has benefits like purification from sins. Some key points about tirthas include: 1) Important tirthas mentioned are the Char Dham, 12 Jyotirlingas, Sapta Puri and rivers like Ganga. 2) Tirthyatras help one attain spiritual goals like purification, fulfillment of vows, and performance of rituals and rites of passage. 3) Scriptures lay down rules for tirthyatras and procedures to follow like fasting, prayers and donations before and after travel.

1. BA III Sem
Topic: Tirtha
By
Prachi Virag Sontakke

2. Concept
• Every religion believes in sanctity of some places.
• Rgveda: Tirth is the place near a river.
• Sutra & Smiriti literature, Epics also attests to the importance of Tirth.
• Purana: Tirth is that place which invokes the feeling of good will on account
of it unique form.
• Skanda Purana: Places where sages reside is Tirth
• Braham Purana: Places where people have performed great deeds are Tirth.

3. • Tradition traces back to the Rigveda.
• The reverence for rivers and water bodies is traceable to the Nadi
Stuti of the Rigveda
• Pilgrimage sites are not prominent in Dharmasastras such as
Manusmriti and Yajnavalkya Smriti.
• Are more popular in epic Mahabharata and the Puranas.
• Most Puranas include large sections on Tirtha Mahatmya which
describe sacred sites and places to visit.

4. Significance of Tirth
• Puranas ascribe a greater importance to Tirtha than yajnas.
• Padam & Matsya Purana: Vedic Yajnas were difficult, time consuming & costly affair. So attain
the same merit instead by visiting a Tirth.
• Visiting a tirth attributes to a good deed= Punya
• The whole atmosphere at a Tirth makes one feel moralistic & religious
• Visiting a Tirth leads to purification.
• Performance of religious and social samskaras at Tirth.
• Vrat and worshipping at Tirth generates special merit.
• Tirthyatra provides the twin benefit of availing religious merit and tourism.
• Tirthyatra also generates a feeling of communal unity.

5. Why Tirth yatra
As a part of a vrat, completion of a vow
Religious merit.
Performance of samskara
To perform penance
Spiritual merit of Travel and tourism

6. Tirth Yatra as religious merit
• Special significance for earning punya (spiritual merit).
• By performing Darśana (viewing of deity), Parikrama (circumambulation), Yajna
(sacrificial fire offering), Dhyana (spiritual contemplation), Puja (worship),
Prarthana (prayer), Dakshina (alms and donation for worthy cause), Seva (selfless
service towards community, devotees or temple), Bhandara (running volunteer
community kitchen for pilgrims).
• Vaman Purana: Those who take a bath at a holy place will not only purify seven
generations of their fore fathers and descendants but also find their path to
liberation

7. Rationale for pilgrimage
“Flower-like the heels of the wanderer, His body groweth and is fruitful,
All his sins disappear, Slain by the toil of his journeying”
—Aitareya Brahmana 7.15

8. Tirth yatra for performance of rites & rituals
• Socio-cultural-religious significance.
• To mark a special occasion, such as the birth of a baby, or as part of a rite of
passage such as a baby's first haircut, or after healing from a sickness.
• Performance of Samaskaras
• Pinda dana: dispersing cremation ashes in a Tirtha region
• For prayers answered, or consequent to a vow a person had made if his or her
prayer were to come true, such as the well being of a family member, or
overcoming poverty or destitution or a challenging situation.

9. Tirth Yarta for Spiritualilty
• The beauty and grandeur of such places are conducive for meditation.
• Contact with spiritually advanced sadhakas.
• Pilgrimages are meant to help one's mind to focus.
• When one goes a holiday, one get into a merry-making mood, when one goes an IPl match, one
is in a sporty-competitive mood.
• Similarly, on a pilgrimage, mind gets attuned to spirituality.
• The discipline that the devotees impose on themselves during course of Tirth Yatra like stopping
drinking, smoking, eating non veg; visting temples, having regular bath.
• The end result is their mind and body become less contaminated.
• So, pilgrimages are good for all as self-discipline and a mental exercise.

10. Tirth yatra as a penance
• Tirtha has been one of the recommended means of addressing remorse and to perform
penance, for unintentional errors and intentional sins, in the Hindu tradition.
• The effort and austerities during the Tirtha are a part of Prāyaścitta concept, which means
"atonement, penance, expiation" for "something one has done, but shouldn't have" or
"something one did not do, but should have".
• Puranas: The type of sin that may be expiated through pilgrimages is referred to as
anupātakas (small sin), in contrast to mahapātakas (major sin) that require other
penances.
• P.V.Kane: Many texts asserted that "tirtha-yatra was a popular way for redemption of sins
in the case of all classes of men and women

11. Who can undertake Tirth Yatra
• One of the questions often asked and discussed in the Puranas and the Dharma sutras
is that of the eligibility for teertha yatra.
• Matsya Purana: Unlike the study of the Vedas or performance of the Vedic rituals,
taking recourse to teertha yatra is open to all human beings irrespective of their caste
status or condition
• Very accommodating in this regard: No restriction what so ever in this regard.
• Females too
• Vidhwa-Vidhur too
• Person suffering from disease too.

12. Rules for Tirth Yatra
• A few primary rules have also been imposed for undertaking the
tirtha yatra.
• A brahmachari living in the guru’s house had to take his permission.
• Grihasthas were obliged to take their spouses, because dampatyaa
saha would get more punyam.
• Sanyasis keep moving anyway from place to place as long as the body
permits to travel.

13. Recommended procedures
• Puranas and Dharma shastras: Laid down the procedure to be followed in teertha yatra.
• Observing a fast if possible on the previous day of the commencement of the yatra.
• Kula Devataa puja, Ganapati puja, Navagraha puja, Brahmana bhojanam or annadanam in a
temple on the day of the departure.
• Visiting the local temple and offering prayers.
• Sankalpa or religious resolve as dictated by the scriptures.
• Carry minimum luxury during travel. Keep life simple.
• Recite the namas of the lord, stotra pathanam japa etc.
• After returning, worshipping the same deities and offer annadanam as thanks giving.

14. Pratinidhi kriya for Tirth yatra
• Pratinidhi: A proxy system according to the Shastras
• Ambition of every devout Hindu to visit Tirthas at least once their life time.
• However transport & communication were extremely difficult, not so convenient.
• Often yatra would take months. Even able bodied persons could not make it so easily then, to
say nothing of others in old age and ill health, handicapped and those without money.
• For the benefit of such people the treatises have given a unique method called ‘pratinidhi kriya’.
• The person who is unable to perform the pilgrimage should request someone who is going, to
perform some rite like bathing in the river Ganga etc. on his behalf also. T
• The person for whom the proxy rite is performed is said to get a part of the religious merit
which he would have got if he had personally done it himself

15. Important Tirths
• Char Dham: Puri, Rameswaram, Dwarka, and Badrinath
• Shakti Peethas
• 12 Jyotirlingas.
• Sapta Puris: अयोध्या मथुरा माया काशी काञ्ची अवन्तिका ।
पुरी द्वाराविी चैव सप्िैिे मोक्षदायकााः ॥
• Kanwar Pilgrimage
• Holy Fairs at tirths: Gita Mahotsav at Kurukshetra, Shravani Mela at Deoghar, and Pitrapaksha
Mela at Gaya
• Major Temple cities: Puri, Katra, Shirdi, Tirupati and Sabarimala
• Samadhis (shrines) of Saints: Belur math, Tulsi Ghat, Kabir

16. Historical examples of Tirtha yatra
• Rajatarangini: There was no tax on visiting Gaya on account of it being a tirtha.
• Jaisimha Siddhraja-King of Anhilwada (Gujrat), levied off taxes on Somnath
tirtha Yatra.
• Yashkarna Deva & Dhang (Kalchuri kings) committed religious suicide at
Prayaga tirtha.

17. Types of Tirtha
• Char: Mobile eg. a river. Ganga, Godavari, Narmada etc
• Sthavara: Stationary eg. mountain, forests, places: Malaygiri, Dandkaranya,
Badrinath etc
• Krut: Made tirtha by association with a specific person eg. Ganga Sagar.
• Akrut: Tirtha since times immemorial eg. Kashi, Prayag.
• Daiv: Tirtha due to its association with a God eg. Govardhan.
• Maanush: Tirtha due to its association with a human eg. Naimisharanya
• Aasur: Tirtha where an asur was killed eg. Gaya
• Aarsha: Tirtha due to its association with a Sage eg. Ramtirth.
• Tirthatam: Most important place inside a tirtha.
• Uptirtha: Other important places in a tirtha

18. Number of tirtha
• Skanda Purana: Three lakhs and fifty thousand.
• Matsya Purana: 35 crores
• Padam Purana: 10 crores
• Inference: majority of places were tirth on account of the detailed
and extensive typology of Tirth nomenclature.

19. Important Tirthas
• Tristhalisetu by Pandit Narayan Bhatt: Kashi, Prayag and Gaya.
• Others: Kurukshetra, Ujjain Badrinath, Kailashnath etc
• Tristhalisetu : Vapan in Prayag, Death in Kashi & Pinda daan in Gaya hold
special significance and merit.

20. AREA OF STUDY: KASHI
• Kashi denotes a region with many
kshetras in it.
• Kashi Kshetra, Varanasi Kshetra,
Avimukta Kshetra and Antagriha
Kshetra.
• These names relate to different
locations within Kashi region.
Antargriha
Avimukta
Varanasi
Kashi

21. Kashi Tirtha
• Sanctity of Kashi due to its relation with Shiva & North ward flowing Ganga river
• Akrut tirth.
• One amongst Dwadash Jyotirlingas: Favourite of Lord Shiva.
• Puranas bestow immense significance to Kashi as a tirtha.
• Kashi Mahatma of Skanda Purana: sanctity of Kashi & places of religious merit
• Even the crematory ground in Kashi is sacred.
• Matsya purana: Kashi is the best tirtha. Cut your feet upon arrival in Kashi.
• Xuang Xang: 100 temples in Kashi.
• The sin of killing of brahman gets negated here.
• One attains salvation just by dying in Kashi ‘काशी मरणाम मुन्ति’
• Uptirth in Kashi: Gyanvaapi, Dhundhi Ganesh, Bhairavnath
• Panchkroshi yatra, Snaan & Dakshina important here.

22. Prayag
• Van parva: Brahma organised a yajna here.
• Kurma Purana: This is the place of Prajapati.
• Matsya Purana: Prayag stands even in Pralay. Merit of ashwamedha yajna at each
step here.
• Uptirtha: Akshay vat, Koti tirtha, Agni tirtha etc.
• Daiv+Pitar pooja, Daan, Snaan (Kumbh), Aarsha Vivah, Vapan (Mundan)
• Padam+Kurma+Agni Purana: merit of donating 3 crores cow attained just by bathing
for 3 days in Prayag.
• Religious suicide: Yashkarna dev & Dhanga Kalchuri

23. Gaya
• Vayu Purana: Asur tirtha. Names Gaya, Gayasur
• Gaya Mahatmya:Vaishnava tirtha
• Uptirtha: Falgu river, Akshay vat, Pret shila, Vishnu Pad
• Special merit for performance of Pind daan, Tarpan & Shraddh.
• Ramayan: Dashrath’s Pind daan was done at Gaya.
• Literature: it takes 7 days to complete the pilgrimage to Gaya.
• No mundan while performance of Shraddh.
• All rites to be done by Gaya Brahmin only.
• One can also perform his own shraddh here in Gaya.

24. Conclusion
• A Tirth oozes with spiritual and religious vibrations, special powers
and knowledge.
• Religious scriptures also guide Hindus to undertake tirth yatras.
• Multifold significance.
• Relevant even today.