Contemporary Views on Comparative Religion - In Celebration of Tim Jensen’s 65th Birthday - Peter Antes
31. Salvific Space and Religious Pluralism: Did Hindu Pilgrimage Develop from the Vedic Tradition?
Contemporary Views on Comparative Religion - In Celebration of Tim Jensen’s 65th Birthday - Peter Antes
Knut A. Jacobsen [+]
University of Bergen
Knut A. Jacobsen is Professor in the Study of Religions at the University of Bergen. His most recent publications include the Routledge Handbook of South Asian Religions (2021), Handbook of Hinduism in Europe (2020) and Yoga in Modern Hinduism (2018). He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the six-volumed Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Brill, 2009–2015).
Description
Religious travel to sites thought to have salvific power has for many centuries been an important ritual in the Hindu traditions. In this paper I argue for a pluralistic approach for understanding the origin and development of Hindu salvific space. Researchers often analyze doctrines, texts and rituals of the Hindu traditions through postulated precursors found in Vedic texts, but this approach neglects the religious pluralism of early India.