{"id":339,"date":"2018-02-01T12:20:04","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T12:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/?page_id=339"},"modified":"2018-11-01T07:43:13","modified_gmt":"2018-11-01T07:43:13","slug":"holy-places","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/practice\/pilgrimage\/holy-places\/","title":{"rendered":"Holy Places"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-av_textblock-2bd894dbf2e4bf2c4acf98ce4fbf94aa '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock'  itemprop=\"text\" ><h3><strong>Holy Places<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In India there are thousands of <em>tirthas<\/em> (places of pilgrimage) visited by millions of people every year. Each is somehow special, often associated with a particular deity or saint, and offering its own particular boon or blessing.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1060\" src=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/holyplaces1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"159\" \/>The most famous<em> tirtha<\/em> is Varanasi, also called Benares or Kashi. It is one of seven ancient holy towns (see<a href=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/practice\/pilgrimage\/important-places-of-pilgrimage\/\"> Important Places of Pilgrimage<\/a>). There are four great <em>dhamas<\/em> (holy places), which correspond to the four points of the compass and near which the great teacher Shankara (see <a href=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/tradition\/movements-and-leaders\/founders-and-theologians\/\">Founders and Theologians<\/a>) established his four main centres. Another key city is Allahabad, established on the site of the ancient city of Prayaga but renamed as &#8220;The City of Allah.&#8221; It is the one of the four main sites for the twelve-yearly Kumbha Mela. The others are Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik (as shown here).<\/p>\n<p>The map below shows all the major holy places mentioned and also the main sacred rivers and mountains. Further details of most of these sites can be found in this section.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1061\" src=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/holyplaces2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"525\" height=\"547\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/holyplaces2.jpg 525w, https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/holyplaces2-288x300.jpg 288w, https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/holyplaces2-450x469.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/p>\n<h4><strong>The Seven Ancient Holy Towns<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li>Ayodhya<\/li>\n<li>Mathura<\/li>\n<li>Haridwar<\/li>\n<li>Varanasi<\/li>\n<li>Kanchipuram<\/li>\n<li>Dvaraka<\/li>\n<li>Ujjain<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4><strong>The Four Holy Dhamas<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li>Puri (East)<\/li>\n<li>Rameshvaram (South)<\/li>\n<li>Dvaraka (West)<\/li>\n<li>Badrinatha (North)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4><strong>The Four Maha Kumbha Mela Sites<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li>Prayaga ( Allahabad)<\/li>\n<li>Haridwar<\/li>\n<li>Ujjain<\/li>\n<li>Nasik<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Personal Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is it that makes a place sacred?<\/li>\n<li>What experiences do you have of sacred places?<\/li>\n<li>Are there tangible differences between a holy site and other places, or are they simply imaginary?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>Holy Sites for the Four Main Denominations<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Vaishnavas<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mathura\/Vrindavana<\/li>\n<li>Dvaraka<\/li>\n<li>BadrinathaPuri (Jagannatha Puri)<\/li>\n<li>Tirupati<\/li>\n<li>Ayodhya<\/li>\n<li>Nathdwar<\/li>\n<li>Udupi<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Shaivites<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Varanasi<\/li>\n<li>Kedarnatha<\/li>\n<li>Somnath<\/li>\n<li>Rameshvaram<\/li>\n<li>Chidambaram<br \/>\nNote: for more holy places dedicated to Vishnu or Shiva, see <a href=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/tradition\/movements-and-leaders\/vaishnavism\/\">Vaishnavism<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/tradition\/movements-and-leaders\/shaivism\/\">Shaivism<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Shaktas<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kanyakumari<\/li>\n<li>Madurai<\/li>\n<li>Vaishno Devi<\/li>\n<li>Calcutta ( Kali Temple)<br \/>\nNote: there are 51 principle Shakti sites throughout India<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Smartas<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Puri<\/li>\n<li>Rameshvaram<\/li>\n<li>Dvaraka<\/li>\n<li>Badrinatha<br \/>\nNote: these correspond to the four dhamas (most holy sites in India)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>Glossary Terms<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Tirtha \u2013 literally means &#8220;ford&#8221; and refers to places where one can cross from the material world to the spiritual. Many sacred places are considered gateways to the higher realms and to a higher consciousness. Some are thought to be replicas of places within the spiritual realm.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1061,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"tags":[209,208,204,206,207],"class_list":["post-339","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dhamas","tag-haridwar","tag-kumbha-mela","tag-tirthas","tag-varanasi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2111,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/339\/revisions\/2111"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iskconeducationalservices.org\/HoH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}