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Virtual Exhibitions

Pilgrimage to Yamunotri

From underneath of glaciers in the high Himalayas appear the crystal waters that form the major river systems the north Indian plains. The Brahmaputra in the east, and the Ganga (Ganges) and the Yamuna in the west are especially important to the Hindu religious tradition. The massive and dramatic landscapes of the mountains and river gorges for millennia have inspired religious imagination. These mountain peaks are the homes of the gods and the rivers are the goddesses.

One of the most revered of places, a place where divine and human life meet is Yamunotri, where the Yamuna (also called Jumna) River emerges from the mountain. At the same time it is the place where the Goddess Yamuna, sometimes called Yamunadevi, is to be found. The river itself is one dimension of her manifestation in the world through which humans have access to her. The Yamuna River flows over eight hundred miles until it joins the Ganga at Allahabad. The Saraswati river, now no longer visible on the surface, joins the two sister Rivers/Goddesses. The juncture (sangam) of the three rivers is called the triveni. That place is the site of the Kumbha Mela, the great gathering of Hindus that takes place every twelfth year.

Yamunotri hosts a major temple to the Goddess, along with other smaller temples, ashrams, hot springs for bathing, shops for purchasing items to offer the Goddess, and restaurants. It is a strenuous day or two to climb from where the road ends at Hanumanchatti and where the trail begins. The pleasantly warm days of summer beckon pilgrims from the scorching plains below to climb on foot, ride of mule-back, or be carried by porters to the home of Yamuna. Along the way one finds signs painted in Hindi on rocks reassuring the pilgrim that her or his desires will be granted by the divine mother. At the Yamunotri temple Brahman priests are available to conduct rituals that nourish one's ancestors.

In May of 2000, Paul Courtright of the Department of Religion, Rakesh Ranjan of the Asian Studies Program, and Brian Pennington (Emory Ph.D., 1997) of Maryville College, made their way on foot to Yamunotri. From young children to elderly great grandparents, from cosmopolitan middle classes to impoverished villagers, from all the corners of India and from Hindu communities abroad came the pilgrims in a never-ending stream from dawn till dark. The photographs in this Virtual Exhibition attempt to capture something of at least the sights of the pilgrimage process. What the camera cannot capture, but what is palpable in person, is a sense of presence--something like a magnetic force--that energizes the circulatory system of human and divine connection.

View Yamunotri Images