Impact of Religious Tourism on Historic

Towns in India
Mragank Gupta

2018MCO008

Abstract
"Religious tourism" is very contemporary word given by tourism industry as an
economic aspect. It is considered more to be the commercialization of
pilgrimage. Religious tourism refers to contemporary patterns of visitation to
places of religious importance or pilgrimage sites where visitors aim to fulfil
religious needs of pilgrimage and recreational needs of sightseeing and
involving a change away from the regular environment. Some of the
predominant religious tourism destinations in India are Pushkar, Tirupathy,
Ajmer, Puri, Ujjain, Varanashi, Mathura, Nanded etc among others. These
religious places attract a huge amount of religious tourists from various parts
of the country and abroad. Due to its reverence, there is a rapid increase in
the floating population and the activities of pilgrims during pilgrimages each
year which has a high potential to impact the built environment in various
ways including development pressure, rapid urbanization, ignorance of
heritage in these sites. Due to the lack of effective development plan which
provide development of infrastructure, direction to growth, conservation of
heritage. These towns grow haphazardly leading to damaging the heritage
aspect of area. The aim of this paper is to understand the impact of religious
tourism on historic towns in India which is considered to be achieved under
following objectives-

 To Understand the concept of religious tourism and pilgrimage in India

 To understand the concept of historic cities in India with the help of
different Theories.
 To analyze the impact of religious tourism on Historic Cities in India.

Keywords: Religious Tourism, Pilgrimage, Historic towns in India.

Introduction
Mankind from time immemorial travels for different reasons like the search for
food, medication, and knowledge, business etc. one of such travel is based
on religious purpose. History of religious tourism in India is from early period
and could be old to much before evolution of settlements and towns. It was
in the form of explorer, mystics and sage who wander on land to attain
enlightenment and other spiritual and super natural purpose.
Religious tourism is mass tourism with the intention to visit places of worship,
holy places or shrines and also could be in search of truth and puzzles in life or
search for knowledge. It has been argued to be one of the oldest forms of
tourism.

Human habitation in form of town in India can be evidenced from Indus

valley civilization. The archaeological remains of town are material proof of it
but we can also get an idea of social organisation of human habitation from
prehistoric times through the cluster occurrence of painted rock shelters.
These cave dwellers gradually in time began building homes and start settling
in nearby areas. These cluster of houses eventually developed into hamlets 1
then further growth leads to formation of villages then Towns.

Concept of Religious tourism and Pilgrimage

Religious tourism is the tourism, when the individuals make visits to different
places for religious purposes. In general definition, religious tourism is a form of
tourism, whereby people of faith travel individually or in groups for reasons
related to religion or spirituality. The religious tourism encompasses all kinds of
travel that is motivated by religion and where the destination is a religious
site.

Religion and pilgrimage tourism is primarily referred to the travel that takes
place outside the usual environment for religious purposes. In India wedding
ceremonies, funerals or the other rituals and celebration of festivals have a
strong religious connotation, then when travel on a religious basis is planned
by the priests or religious leaders or other individuals primarily in terms of these
aspects, then it can be regarded as religious tourism.

The concept of religious tourism can be highlighted by stating the

example of the city of Varanasi. Varanasi is the city that is located on the
banks of river Ganga. The city has around 4000 temples, 3000 heritage sites
1
2013, Mishra O.P. Tiwari P. Rock art of S-Belt Region.
and 84 ghats. The individuals within the country and even from foreign
countries have generated this viewpoint that if they would bathe in the
Ganga, they would be able to obtain forgiveness regarding their sins or any
wrongdoings. One of the most common aspects of making visits to religious
places is to pray, as all individuals believe in the Almighty. In India, the
religious places too have been built with artistic and creative ways that they
have attracted individuals.

Pilgrimage is one of the oldest forms of expressing religious worship. It is also

one of the oldest forms of tourism and is an integral component of the tourist
industry. Pilgrimage is a journey made by a pilgrim, who travels from place to
place, usually journeying a long distance and to a sacred place as an act of
devotion. It is journey organized in the sense that there are religious motives
for going to a place that the contents of that place include religious rituals,
“since the time of the ancient mythologies up to the present, all the religions
in the world have made hope concrete by proclaiming to believers that a
visit to a holy place would relieve all or some of their troubles, whether
spiritual or worldly. Visits to holy places for the sake of purification,
redemption, fulfilment of vows, healing, or something else are called
pilgrimages”.
At its most basic, Pilgrimage can be viewed as any travel that involves a
religious experience. It would be easy to characterize all journeys to religious
sites as religious tourism. However, some researchers referred to a different
sense of pilgrimage in the traditional view as a pilgrimage is a ritual journey
with a holy purpose. Every step along the way has meaning. The pilgrim
knows that the journey will be difficult and that life-giving challenges will
emerge.

A pilgrimage is not a vacation: it is a transformational journey during which

significant change takes place. New insights are given. Deeper
understanding is achieved. Blessings are received. Healing takes place. On
return from the pilgrimage, life is seen with different eyes. Nothing will ever be
quite the same again”. Simply travelling to a sacred site is not sufficient to
identify the traveler as a pilgrim. Ritual and austerity are always expected to
involve to a greater or lesser degree. Early pilgrims did experience very much
of hardship.

In contrast to religious tourism, the key feature of pilgrimage is from its

incorporation conveying religious involvement into the journey. Under this
perspective, motivations for pilgrimage will differ from those of religious
tourism. As characterized by their destination, it is possible to distinguish
between pilgrims and religious tourists by the way they behave as well; For
example, People on a pilgrimage usually started chanting gods name in
musical tone throughout their journey to enhance or maintain the aura of
journey while tourist did not do so. This thing is also done to keep the mind
devoted to god and also to keep it isolated from the distraction created by
hardship of journey. A visit considered as a pilgrimage should be done with a
devotional intention. In this sense, the pilgrimage is not just a simple curiosity
stop or a tourist trip to a sacred place. It also requires some form of devotion.
Traditional views of pilgrimage have identified that the experience should
also involve hardship and suffering. Simply travelling to a sacred site is not
sufficient to identify the traveller as a pilgrim. Early pilgrims did experience
very much of hardship.

Perspective of Religious Tourism in India

There are two different aspects of religious tourism in India, one is the faith of
the domestic tourist, who has a spiritual attachment to the deity or the
destination with the possession of religious beliefs and the other is the faith
and the beliefs of the foreign tourists. Here the foreign tourist means to those
which do not have religious connection to site. These are the individuals, who
have different religious backgrounds and belong to different regions or
countries. For them, the destination and the religious practices have the
aspect of novelty and respect. A spiritual experience that they obtain in India
is different from their own, despite the ethical values and norms being the
same. In India, there is possession of religious beliefs, faith in worshipping the
deities and when one is dedicated towards the achievement of the desired
goals and objectives, then they plan religious tourism. When individuals are
planning religious tourism, they usually form a strong belief that all their
problems would get solved, they will be able to achieve their goals and
promote well-being.
In India, there are numerous religious places all over the country that
have interested individuals from not only within the country, but also other
parts of the world. Religious tourism is divided into the following categories,
pilgrimages, leisure vacations, faith-based journey, conventions and rallies,
monastery visit, faith-based camps and religious tourist attractions.

India is a secular country, where every individual has the right to practice the
religion of his or her own choice. The religious places are established in
accordance to the religions within the country. The major religions of the
country are Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity, Muslim, Jainism, Buddhism, and
Parsi. The Hindus make visits to the temples, Sikhs to the gurudwaras, Christians
to the churches, Muslims to the mosques, Jains have their temples, and
Buddhists, and Parsis make visits to religious places, based on their faith. In
some cases, individuals make visits to religious places of the foreign religion
which they do not follow like if a hindu family had planned a tour to Pushkar,
they will also incorporate the visit to Ajmer Dargah Sarif and famous jain
temples there in their Tour plan.
Religious tourism has emerged as a booming market in India,
according to the Delhi based National Council for Applied Economic
Research (NCAER) which shows that of the 230 million tourist trips undertaken
in India, the largest proportion is made up of religious pilgrimages.
Undertaken by both rural and urban Indians, they outnumber leisure holidays
in hill stations, getaways to sea beaches and even trips to metropolitan cities.

As many as 23 million people visited Tirupati, a temple town in Andra pradesh

to catch a glimpse of Lord Balaji. Tirupati’s annual list of pilgrims is higher than
the total number of travellers visiting Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata
put together. In the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir 17.2 million
devotees trek uphill for 15 km to pay respects to a female goddess called
Vaishno Devi.

Historic Towns and Urban Areas

According to ICOMOS Washington Charter(1987), Historic towns and cities
are old areas whether small or large including cities, town and centres either
living or dead and were created and developed by man gradually in time
and shows an expression of social diversity in history. They comprises natural
and built environment and express the living experience of dwellers. They
embodies the values of traditional urban culture.

Urban patterns as defined by lots and streets; Relationships between buildings

and green and open spaces; The formal appearance, interior and exterior,
of buildings as defined by scale, size, style, construction, materials, colour and
decoration; The relationship between the town or urban area and its
surrounding setting, both natural and man-made; The various functions that
the town or urban area has acquired over time. These attributes define the
character of Historic Town.

Historic Towns In India

The every historic town emerge out either in the form religious or spiritual
centre, political centre, trade and commerce centre etc. The emergence of
these town also varied throughout the timeline. Indian sub continent also
became a testimony of evolution of these centres from its emergence, once
flourishing to its Zenith then degrading in ignorance and being dead to
regeneration of the town though-out the historical timeline. Since due to
different reason of emergence resulting the manifestation of different
physical attributes of spatial layout like hierarchy of streets, built fabric, visual
linkages, relationship with neighbourhood environment, for example The
religious and spiritual towns are the composition of urban space in a
concentric arrangement of geometric shapes forming a pattern that illustrate
the abstraction of structures of the universe known as Mandala, depicted in
ancient lietrature of traditional indian architecture. They also have a high
degree of axiality along a corridor with regular settlement pattern focused
around Temple as core while the pollitical centre developed as fortified town
most probably on hill side and the trade routes results in emergence and
development of trade and commercial town which comprises of grandeur
Havelies of merchants along the route.

The settlement patterns in India are an overlay of civilizations belonging to

different periods in the history of Hindu, Buddhist, Mughals and British rule. This
overlaid pattern has developed urban forms that reflect the diversity in social
and cultural needs of the inhabitants. The architecture of these urban forms
has interesting elements like forts, palaces, traditional houses and religious
buildings. Many cities in India have these overlaid patterns of historic
architecture.

The towns of medieval origin in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan

generally have four features signifying their morphological character: the
castle or fortress, the temple, the tank or water bodies, and the wall enclosing
the separate cells of communities of social hierarchical order, the lowest
being at the fringe or even outside the wall.

Agra, Dhar, Sikri, Golconda, Bijapur, Pune, Delhi, Chittorgarh, Jaipur(Amer),

Udaipur, Ajmer, Aurangabad, etc. were some of the towns having medieval
plan-based morphology. Most of them now have a changed urban
landscape because of the super- imposition of the post-independence
development.

Medieval towns sought their sites invariably on high mounds or by the sides of
an isolated hill or in a naturally fortified depression. Besides the advantage of
the natural defence, the availability of water is also responsible for their
irregular morphology. Some of the towns are squeezed between high
mounds and water- bodies at least from two sides. Their irregular, tortuous
and narrow streets near the centre or core also have distorted the shape or
layout.
Impact of Religious Tourism
India has the largest religious traffic in the world, being the home to different
and amalgamation of religions and having a large number of world famous
pilgrimage and religious sites. The religious destinations form a large part of
India's vibrant cultural heritage and are also a major part of its tourism, which
contributes to the social, cultural and economic development of the
particular area or region. Since religious centers have been traditionally small
towns, religious tourism bring its own pressure such as high stress on
infrastructure due to a huge influx of floating population, encroachment of
the existing resources, dilapidating built heritage and urban space, water
bodies, increasing traffic congestion, etc. The inner city core starts to
deteriorate to very pathetic condition deprived of its original character. As
the sacred place has to accommodate the floating population more than its
capacity with no special planning and associated infrastructure for the
additional frequent influx. Hence it is important to analyze the impact of
religious tourism on the historic towns and its extent of issues and challenges
emerging from it.
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