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. One of the greatest pilgrimages of the recent times is for the Kumbh Mela 2025.[1] One of the oldest and famous pilgrimage centres is Hemis, near Leh, for Mahayana Buddhism in the world.[2]

Hinduism

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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 one to attain salvation. There are four dhams and twelve jyotirlings along with 51 shakti Peeths in India.

Islam

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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

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Main article: Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India

Some other pilgrimage places in India and Nepal connected to the life of Gautama Buddha are: Pataliputta, Nalanda, Vikramshila, Gaya, Kapilavastu, Kosambi, 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

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Main article: Tirtha (Jainism)

Zoroastrianism

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

Christianity

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References

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  1. ^ Narayan, Badri. "Pilgrim's progress: Why this Kumbh was indeed Maha". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-06-19.
  2. ^ a b "Pilgrim’s progress". The Indian Express. 2009-08-02. Retrieved 2025-06-19. {{cite web}}: C1 control character in |title= at position 8 (help)
  3. ^ "AP TEMPLES | GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH". www.aptemples.ap.gov.in. Retrieved 2025-06-19.
  4. ^ "Durga temple to be repaired by ancient methods". The Times of India. 2025-05-26. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-06-19.
  5. ^ "Goa: Exposition of relics of St Francis Xavier scheduled for 2024-25". The Times of India. 2022-11-05. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-06-19.
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