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KUNDA
A lake or pond, a kunda often has steps leading to the water.
BRAJBHOOMI
The term ‘Braj’ does not refer to an area with clearly defined boundaries
and has never been used as the official name of a political territory
or administrative division. It is derived from the Sanskrit vraja, which
is used in the oldest accounts of Krishna’s childhood to mean ‘an enclosure
or station of herdsmen’. Modern pundits, however, define it as ‘a place
where cows roam’, thereby endorsing the use of ‘Braj’ as a name for the
countryside in which Krishna grazed his cattle and in which all the sacred
places associated with his early years are located.
PARIKRAMA
The act of walking in a clockwise direction around a sacred object is
a long-established religious practice. It was a fundamental part of the
worship of a Buddhist or Jain stupa, and in the late Vedic period sacrifice
provided a context for circumambulation. It was interpreted as an act
of encompassing or encircling the universe, defending it from evil spirits
who roam the outerlying areas of darkness, demarcating the boundary between
universe and non-universe, and of identifying the performer with the brahman
that pervades and sustains creation. Everywhere in India it is customary
to circumambulate a sacred tree, a pedestal or mound on which the sacred
basil plant grows, and any deity - either by walking around the temple
itself or by using a passage within the building that encircles the shrine
room. Pilgrims should also circumambulate any sacred they visit. The precincts
of holy towns in India are delineated by a parikrama route, and are sometimes
surrounded by another longer circuit that includes many subsidiary sacred
places. Local residents may walk around their sacred centre at any time
- daily if they are particularly devout, on the eleventh day of any lunar
fortnight, on the full moon, or every day during the month of Karttik
and intercalary months. Circumambulations can usually be started at any
point along the route and are not considered complete unless one return
to the point of departure.
DHARMSALA
Pilgrim accomodation. |
