India: A Sacred Geography

The author approaches the subject with the perfect mixture of a scholar's detachment and a Truth-seeker's attachment, while traversing the length and breadth of India, to present the reader a panoptic views of the sacred sites - and their imageries - dotting the country. The result is a book that resonated with this reader for its theoretical conclusions as well as for its ability to vicariously convey the transcending emotions of devotees and the beauty of the places (eg in the Himalayas). For example, the narration of the arathi (devotional offering) at the PAdmanabhaswamy Temple, Kerala was very evocative. As was the deep connectivity established between the devotees of Krishna and his figurine at the havelis through the fascinating descriptions of costume changes and playful activities of the Lord. The book is thus filled with interesting - and quite often less well-known - details and facts,spanning a number of deities and shrines, all in one cogent narrative. The book provides an integrative way of looking at the facts and presents a holistic picture which helps the reader assimilate the spirituality of the region. Eck has "condensed" - to use her perspective-laden term - a veritable ocean of facts, lore and information,to present this succinct and eminently readable tome. This, in itself, is a huge feat. Moreover, that she has been, as indicated earlier, to imbue the text with the "bhakthi-ic" element is very praiseworthy. The detailed notes presented at the end is indicative of her extensive textual survey and is another trove of detailed information for the interested reader, over and above what is presented in the main section. Although occasionally repetitive, the repetition could also be construed as useful as it serves to refresh the facts before presenting the theory or conclusion; sometimes construction of sentences /concepts and use of certain words/jargon may render the ideas being conveyed somewhat difficult to follow for a non-anthropologist; however, on the whole, such instances are quite rare. To sum up, a very informative and enjoyable book.

But the truly effacacious pilgrimmage is one that combines the ritual journey with true faith, " the one who always bathes in earthly tirthas as well as the tirthas of the heart reaches the supreme goal." Diane Eck, 'India: A Sacred Geography. Two themes stand out in this outstanding scholarly study of 'India: A Sacred Geography', A) the pilgrim and B) What is India. This book approaches the landscape from the pilgrims' point of view: as mythology rooted in geography. Ms Eck travels to the sites of Shiva's many manifestations, picks up the pieces of the dismembered goddess, and visits the temples dedicated to Vishnu. In Braj, in north India, she relates immersive reconstructions of stories from Krishna's life which pilgrims re-enact. Finally, she traces the journey made by Ram as he travelled from Ayodhya in the north to Lanka (presumed to be present-day Sri Lanka) in the south, navigating the length of the country. Eck's book conclusively shows that India is shaped not by the modern notion of a nation-state, "but by the extensive and intricate interrelation of geography and mythology (around rivers, shores, mountains, forests) that has produced this vast landscape of tirthas". Pandit Nehru said this even more authoritatively in his historic address at AICC's Madurai session in October 1961: "India has, for ages past, been a country of pilgrimages. All over the country, you find these ancient places, from Badrinath, Kedarnath and Amarnath, high up in the snowy Himalayas down to Kanyakumari in the south. What has drawn our people from the south to the north and from the north to the south in these great pilgrimages? It is the feeling of one country and one culture." The Spirit of India is, in fact, the Idea of India. You cannot even begin to understand India without acknowledging, experiencing and comprehending its sacredness-that is, without becoming a pilgrim yourself. Whether you go to Girnar,Chisti's Dargah in Ajmer, or Kanyakumari, whether you bathe in the Holy Ganga or in the "tirthas of the heart" ,to reach the shores of after-life, is up to you. In closing, the idea of Indian sacredness is not some western concept grafted on to the subcontinent in a fit of mystical Orientalism: it is instead an idea central to India's mythological conception of itself, which "continues to anchor millions of people in the imagined landscape of their country". Hindu mythology consistently visualises India as a spiritually charged and "living landscape in which mountains, rivers, forests and villages are elaborately linked to the stories of the gods and heroes. The land bears traces of the gods and the footprints of the heroes. Every place has its story and, conversely, every story in the vast storehouse of myth and legend has its place ... In this mental map, geography is overlaid with layer upon layer of story." As Professor Eck writes in her conclusion: "The affirmation of the everywhere of the sacred - this is the peculiar genius of the theology given expression in the landscape of India."

Diana Eck's latest book is in the line of her first, rightly celebrated, description of Kashi (Benares) as the "City of Light", but with twenty or thirty years of research added. Admittedly, this is not a book for beginners. It presupposes at least some basic knowledge of the Indian "Weltanschaung" : if you have no idea who Krishna, Rama or Shiva are, you are unlikely to be able to enjoy Diana Eck's superbly perceptive description of what she calls the sacred geography of India. She means by that the subtle connexion between the geographical landscape, the history of certain famous places - Ayodhya for instance - and the underlying religious visions of a sub-continent where ever year tens of millions of pilgrims travel to what we would call holy places. Diana Eck talks from experience: it is obvious from her descriptions that she has been there and the reader is thus treated to a superb mixture of impressive erudition with practical experience. Furthermore the author is very good at describing what she saw: her writing is clear and elegant, never repetitive, yet precise. The book is divided by divinities, so to speak: Shiva's pilgrimages and sacred lanscape, Vishnu, Devi, Krishna, Rama, etc. Diana Eck deals splendidly with the complexity - and the sheer volume - of information available. She is sometimes a little light footed where one would have expected less diplomacy: for example, the scandalous neglect of the Indian government(s) for their "sacred" rivers, most of which are sewers, totally poluted, filled with human and industrial waste, endangering the life of the worshippers who bathe in them is evoked several times, but one would have expected a stronger call for action. But these are minor deficiencies in an otherwise superb book. Anyone with an interest in India should read it and it is sure to remain THE reference on this subject for many years.

How can a book be scholarly yet tender? Diana Eck acomplishes just that through her in depth knowledge of Sanskrit, mythology and a lived experience of India. As a non-resident Indian (NRI), I have to admit that my intent when I bought this book was simply to seek out places to visit in India. I came away learning so much about my heritage and culture. I am deeply impressed by Dr. Eck’s knowledge of Sanskritic literature and local mythology; much of what I remember hearing from my mother who was a Sanskrit and religion scholar. I could find no inaccuracies in Dr. Eck’s book, nor any of the typical prejudices of a Western scholar, nothing but a deep knowledge and abiding love for India. I especially appreciate the easy to read maps and effortless fluid writing. I have nothing but praise for this monumental work.

I ordered this right before leaving for a package tour of southern India with lots of scheduled temple visits. I was hoping for something that would tell me about pilgramage routes by region. This sort of does that, part of the time. It talks about Hindu worldview part of the time, some historical stuff, etc. Interesting stuff, but very hard to look anything up or to decide if a chapter is relavent to what you want to know until after reading it. Because of this, it was really a waste to take it with, although I understand more about what I saw from reading more of it after the trip. Not a fast read. Get it only if you think the genetal subject is worth reading a whole book even if the area you want to know most about has only two paragraphs, like mine did.

When I saw that Diana Eck had this new book I had to get it immediately. She brings dimensions of insight to aspects of Indian thought and culture that are otherwise hidden to outsiders. I spent time in Varanasi with her book, Benares, City of Light, reading it and following pilgrimages. It made the difference between just seeing things and experiencing them, understanding the meaning expressed in the symbols and rituals. The Indians in Varanasi praised this book to me saying that Diana Eck knew more about Varanasi than they did. Similarly with this latest book, she unfolds layer upon layer of the Indian vision of the divine earth. I read this book slowly, only a sub-chapter at a time. It's very rich and deserves a lot of quiet consideration as you go along with it. I think this book is a must read for any student of Indian culture. Who should read this book: every native of India, every student and teacher of yoga, every student or teacher of Buddhism, including Tibetan Buddhism, especially Vajrayana practitioners. Every student of Vipassana and Theravada Buddhism should read this, including Thai, Sri Lankan and Burmese monks. There are about 10 people that I am going to give this book to for Christmas.

Diana Eck’s book - India: A Sacred Geography - is considered to some as the magnum opus of her career. The paperback is certainly the size of such, containing a whomping 456 pages - not including acknowledgements, notes, and index. Yet, it is not the size that matters but what is contained inside the tome. Diana Eck certainly follows through with the title of her work; the descriptions and explanations given for each location she discusses are deep and rich with detail. However, there is such a thing as excessive detailing and I believe that Diana Eck has just hit that mark. Not only were the details lengthy and had a bit too much verbiage, but they were even more so scattered as well as repeated throughout their pertaining chapter. Both the strengths and weaknesses of Eck’s writing can be found in each and every chapter. Diana Eck had both positive and negative aspects going for her writing; unfortunately, the unfavorable qualities overcome and shadow the commendatory ones. Praise should definitely be given to Diana Eck’s details of the geography and architecture, regardless that they at times were superfluous. First addressing the architectural descriptions, a fantastic example of Eck’s descriptive prowess can be found just two pages into the chapter concentrating on Vishnu. Eck begins the journey into the sacred architecture of Vishnu by starting with one of the most important temples in southern India - the temple of Padmanabhaswamy. The primary reason that this temple is so revered is because of the image of Vishnu that is found within the core of the temple, and Eck does the image justice with her recounting of it. The intensity of the image and be pictured even if Eck had not included the actual measurements of it, as Eck includes the key detail that, “the inner sanctum is so large that it is fully visible only through three sets of doors” and that, “Devotees cannot really see the full image of Vishnu at all”. Eck could have easily gotten away with just writing the actual measurements, but it is because she wrote her observations that was as the readers feel as if we are observing the image ourselves. Eck does well to include more valuable remarks of her sight-seeing when describing the geography of the land as well, such as when she was addressing “Lion Mountain”. It is here that once again her writing simply what she is seeing through her own eyes - almost as if a tour guide - allows the readers to almost see it through their eyes. Eck’s descriptions range from simple points such as what fruits are growing on the trees to wonderful accounts such as when she was regarding the Temple’s sanctum being, “covered with layers of fragrant sandalwood paste applied so thick that it appears to be a post”. It is illustrations like these that not only almost give the reader the use of sight, but of scent and touch as well. Useful observations such as these are found throughout the entirety of the book and continue to have the same effect. Unfortunately, Eck’s wonderful descriptions are more often than not overshadowed by the erratic organization of her writing. Though Diana Eck’s writing is quite skillful, her structure of such is not nearly on the same level. Whether it be every other paragraph switching subjects back and forth or even sentence to sentence, Eck’s focus is that like a broken slinky - one doesn’t know where it starts or finishes and a clear path cannot be seen. When once again looking at Eck’s passage on the Padmanabhaswamy temple, though the writing is terrific it is incredibly sporadic. Where we begin at describing the temple’s interior for an entire page, we then switch over to a ritual, then a myth, then a history of the temple which somehow turns into a history of the image, followed by a myth of the image and then the final paragraph begins on the presence of Vishnu in the land of India and then the greatest jump of topics is made by ending the entirety of the chapter on Vishnu’s avataras and feet. From all of this leapfrogging, it is incredibly difficult to remember that this whole section is supposed to be focusing on the Padmanabhaswamy temple; not even half way through the passage does the focus stay on the supposed subject. It seems that Eck has no sense of transitions at all. As can be seen, Eck switches focuses in between paragraphs but she even switches focuses between sentences in the same paragraph. An example of such can be found in the last paragraph of the Padmanabhaswamy section where Eck is discussing avataras of Vishnu and then quickly switches over to Vishnu’s feet, as can be seen: “The many avataras of Vishnu have made their imprint on the land. Vishnu, the wide-striding … has placed his foot on earth”. The switch of avataras to Vishnu’s feet is so fast and without explanation that one has to go back and reread the paragraph multiple times to understand the connections. The connections themselves are so thin that the reader really has to read and reread between the lines to find them and Eck barely gets away with this. It is because of these swift jumps and rickety bridging that Eck’s skillful writing is lost because it is so hard to follow and the reader is too busy repeatedly going over the same material to really take a step back and take it in - if they are able to at all. Ultimately, it is this one fault with Eck’s writing that is her work’s downfall. Diana Eck’s book - India: A Sacred Geography - is certainly a read. The text is abundant with colorful details and vivid descriptions. Diana Eck concentrates on both the geography and its sacrality alike. However, the details given tended to lean on the rambling side and it was the disorganization of such that was the most prominent. Both the strengths and weaknesses of Eck’s writing fought well with each other but unfortunately the unfavorable qualities won out.

Dr. Eck is an honest broker when it comes to describing India. This book is an exhaustive compendium of places of pilgrimage in India. Compared to many other travelogues in India, this book wonderfully links history, mythology, geography, religion , sociology and modern India's politics - all of which intermingle in the description of thousands of places of worship in India. The nlyy thing I wish is, for a book published in 2015, better photographs

Completely fascinating book about a complicated subject

Good

The book arrived in expected time. Although it was second hand it was in fantastic conditions. A great book for who is studying the sacred geography of India, maybe it's a bit too specialisti for general audience.

Stunningly brilliant

Amazing Indian culture and spirituality revisited at some of the holy places. Very well explored and presented.