Next stop, Nirvana. When Tibetan pilgrims turn into leisure seekers
This paper discusses the emergence of a modern pilgrimage industry in India as depicted in the autobiographical accounts of Khatag Dzamyag, a 20th-century Khampa trader. The propagandistic activities of modern pan-Buddhist societies, together with the re-opening of ancient sites of Indian Buddhism,...
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| izdano v: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/emscat, |
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Jezik: | Anglais |
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Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines
2020
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| Online dostop: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Izvleček: | This paper discusses the emergence of a modern pilgrimage industry in India as depicted in the autobiographical accounts of Khatag Dzamyag, a 20th-century Khampa trader. The propagandistic activities of modern pan-Buddhist societies, together with the re-opening of ancient sites of Indian Buddhism, contributed to revitalising the concept of India as a “holy land” among Tibetan pilgrims, for most of whom a journey to the Middle Ganges region represented the first encounter with modernity; trains, motorcars, and boats were wonders to be thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated. Leisure appears to be a crucial component in the development of forms of spiritual tourism; the 19th and 20th centuries marked, in their own way, a “leisure revolution” in global terms. Following Dzamyag’s narrative, I will elucidate how new forms of “spiritual tourism”, created and fostered by pan-Buddhist movements like the Maha Bodhi Society, contributed to transforming the experience of pilgrimage into a growing commercialisation of leisure, especially for the representatives of the highest strata of Tibetan society, who had the necessary resources to finance their leisure activities. |
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