Tirtha

Tirtha (तीर्थ, IAST: Tīrtha) is a Sanskrit word that means "crossing place, ford", and refers to any place, text or person that is holy. It particularly refers to pilgrimage sites and holy places in Hinduism as well as Jainism.

The process or journey associated with Tirtha is called Tirtha-yatra, while alternate terms such as Kshetra, Gopitha and Mahalaya are used in some Hindu traditions to refer to a "place of pilgrimage".

Tirtha is a spiritual concept in Hinduism, particularly as a "pilgrimage site", states Axel Michaels, that is a holy junction between "worlds that touch and do not touch each other". The word also appears in ancient and medieval Hindu texts to refer to a holy person, or a holy text with something that can be a catalyst for a transition from one state of existence to another. It is, states Knut A. Jacobsen, anything that has a salvific value to a Hindu, and includes pilgrimage sites such as mountains or forests or seashore or rivers or ponds, as well as virtues, actions, studies or state of mind. Tirtha can be an actual physical sacred location in Hindu traditions, or a metaphorical term referring to meditation where the person travels to an intellectual sacred mind state such as of "truth, forgiveness, kindness, simplicity and such". Tirtha in Hindu texts, states Bhardwaj, is "one of the many ways toward self-realization and bliss".

The word Tirtha is found in the oldest layer, that is the Samhita of the Rigveda as well as other Vedas. In the hymns of Rigveda, such as 1.169.6 and 4.29.3, the context suggests that the word means "a way or road". In other hymns of Rigveda such as 8.47.11, states Kane, the context suggests the term means "a ford in the river". Yet, in other cases, Tirtha refers to any holy place, such as by the sea, or a place that connects a sacrificial ground (Yajna) to the outside. Later texts use the word Tirtha to refer to any spot, locality or expanse of water where circumstances or presence of great sages or gurus has made special.

In the Upanishads, states Diana L. Eck, the "crossing over" refers to the "spiritual transition and transformation from this world to the world of Brahman, the Supreme, the world illumined by the light of knowledge". The emphasis in the Upanishads, in Tirtha context is on spiritual knowledge, instead of rituals, and this theme appears in the Hindu epics as well.

The Dharmasastras and the Puranas, states Kane, assert numerous descriptors for what is holy, including all mountains, all of Himalayas, all rivers, lakes, dwellings of Rishis (sages), temples, cowpens, great forests, and all seas. This tradition traces back to the Rigveda, where Aranyani (large forest) is referred to as a deity. The reverence for rivers and water bodies is traceable to the Nadi Stuti, or the river-hymn, in hymn 10.75 of the Rigveda.

Pilgrimage sites are not prominent in Dharmasastras such as Manusmriti and Yajnavalkya Smriti, but they are found in the epic Mahabharata and the Puranas. Most Puranas include large sections on Tirtha Mahatmya along with tourist guides, which describe sacred sites and places to visit, particularly the Padma Purana, Skanda Purana, Vayu Purana, Kurma Purana, Bhagavata Purana, Narada Purana, Devi Bhagavata Purana, Vamana Purana, Linga Purana, Brahma Purana, Brahmanda Purana and Bhavishya Purana.