PILGRIMAGES AND PATHWAY TO RWYC (RECONNECTING WITH YOUR CULTURE): SCENARIO AND MESSAGES

Pilgrimage is a global human phenomenon spanning cultures, religions, and continents that developed in the ancient past and continued over time, recording the absorption of different facets of time and various niches of transformation. Some pilgrimage places attract millions of pilgrims annually, creating an important ‘spiritual tourism’ industry, such as the Hajj pilgrimage at Meccah and the Kumbha Mela at Prayagraj (India). Under the purview of tourism as one of the most vibrant industries and ways of an international movement, the process of heritagisation is now becoming popular under the umbrella of secularism and sustainable development. The new missionary movement of RWYC (Reconnecting With Your Culture) supports enhancing the local cultural traditions to serve the global society and maintain a harmonious life. An attempt is made here to present spatial and cultural dimensions of pilgrimages and a critical appraisal of the theoretical constructions, like hierophany, sacredscapes, transcendence of space, sacrality of space and time, and temporality of space. This paper attempts to integrate two layers, i.e., locality and globality; it proposes a framework for a pilgrimage system that serves global ordering, illustrated with case studies from India, especially the Kumbha Mela.