Tirtha

(“crossing place”) The most general
name for any holy place. Just as a ford on
a riverbank provides a safe place to cross
from one side to the other, in the same
way a tirtha provides a way for one to
“cross over” from mundane life to a
sanctified one or, on an even greater
scale, to “cross over” from this ephemeral
and ever changing world to the
unchanging, blissful, final liberation of
the soul (moksha). Many tirthas are
actual places—and many of them are on
the shores of India’s sacred rivers, particularly the Ganges—and in its most colloquial meaning, the word tirtha
connotes a pilgrimage place. Yet the traditional pilgrimage literature is emphatic
that tirthas are not just restricted to
mere physical places: The word can also
refer to holy people (such as ascetics,
saints, gurus, and sages) as well as to
virtues such as charity, wisdom, compassion, and purity of heart.
A tirtha is first and foremost a place
or thing that gives one access to sanctity
and religious power, and in the case of
the physical places (rivers, mountains,
cities, temples, or images), this power is
accessible to all. Such holy places are
seen not only as giving easier access to
the divine but also as being areas where
religious merit is more readily and
bountifully obtained. When one surveys
the literature connected with certain
698
Time
areas, one of the most common themes
is the claim that the merit from religious
acts performed at place X (the physical
tirtha) equals that of a thousand (or a
million, or a billion) such religious acts
done in ordinary places. The rarefied
atmosphere at tirthas has a similar effect
on evil acts, multiplying their consequences manifold. In this way the action
of a tirtha can be compared to that of a
microphone; just as a microphone magnifies any sound, whether harsh or
pleasant, in the same way a tirtha magnifies, for good or ill, the consequences of any action. The pilgrimage
literature thus commonly reminds people of the religious merit that their acts
can bring, and it warns them that careless or evil actions can have equally
severe consequences. For this reason,
people performing religious pilgrimage
(tirthayatra) were encouraged to live an
austere, self-conscious life, both to save
themselves from any lapses and to make
the journey a self-conscious process of
transformation. For further information
see Diana Eck, Banaras, 1999; E. Alan
Morinis, Pilgrimage in the Hindu
Tradition, 1984; A. W. Entwistle, Braj,
1987; Ann Grodzins Gold, Fruitful
Journeys, 1988; and Peter van der Veer,
Gods on Earth, 1988.