Sacred places, holy rivers and the public realm

My travels took me to three very special places; it wasn’t the busiest time of the year which meant that it was easier to observe the physical infrastructure in place to cater to the sea of humanity that descends upon those sacred rivers when the time comes every year. Water has always been an integral element in landscape architecture – from Mogul gardens to the gardens of Italian renaissance or the exquisite fountains that liter every nook and corner of Rome; every culture has a unique relationship between architecture and water thereby creating a unique urbanism. In Hindu Architecture,water is an integral part of the religion and a way of life. From time immemorial, sacred rivers and their importance have been reiterated in the sacred Vedas and other religious texts. 

When you put together landscape architecture and Hinduism, you cannot look far beyond the role of water or more specifically rivers – those sacred rivers and the ghats that provide access to them. Almost every major pilgrimage site has a holy river associated with it, and unmistakably a ghat that provides access to it. Ghats are an integral part of the culture where everything from holy bathing, various rituals, offerings to the gods, prayers, meditation, riverside temples, cremation of the dead, offerings for the well being of the departed souls, festivals, melas as well as deity visarjan takes place. In terms of evolution, most of these areas have evolved either by a spontaneous phenomenon over the course of time or more recently through specific design intentions and have become a threshold in terms of cityscapes.

Because of the growing population of our cities, the same activities and practices are placing tremendous stress on our river systems to the extent that they face severe ecological threats. So in that respect, if we are to ensure cultural continuity of any kind, we will need to device architectural solutions to ensure that the regular activities are not polluting the rivers while at the same time retaining the cultural values. It will be crucial to identify the issues associated with each specific place and then develop a mechanism and a plan to counter those problems. For instance, if your site attracts a huge floating population during certain times of the year – you need to take care of issues like way finding during peak hours, proper crowd management, traffic control, crowd control, proper signage, clearly marked entry and exit points as some of the basic criteria that needs to be fulfilled. The greater issues would be the safeguarding the river from any ecological threats.

It’s interesting to note that because of the nature of these ghats, there are only a certain degrees of commercialism that it can cater to lest it offends the same populace that it serves otherwise. But, if a healthy balance can be achieved, then perhaps making the waters commercially viable is another approach to ensure its continuity, perhaps!? Can you see yourself, sipping coffee like in Venice alongside the Grand Canal and observe the Gangaji? Is that too far fetched? But may be long term sustainability lies in merging the traditional with contemporary sensibilities? Okay not Coffee but certainly an icy cold Lassi, for sure!

Haridwar, India

The three Indian towns of Haridwar, Rishikesh and Badrinath provided three very distinct site resulting in unique spaces that were built around them accordingly. Haridwar, the largest and the most obviously organized amongst these three caters to huge numbers during Kumb melas as well as a regular flow of devotees who come to take a plunge in the famed Gangaji at Hari-ki-pauri. That combined with the regular evening aarti makes it an enriching experience. 

River Ganga, Rishikesh

Rishikesh on the other hand felt a lot more subdued while the mighty Ganga seemed the opposite here, visibly cleaner waters that was roaring unlike the calm waters of Haridwar. The place has beautiful ghats, temples and markets – and a large number of dharmashalas that provide housing to thousands of pilgrims every year. Alongside this flux of people, it felt like a lot more people come to Rishikesh for austere meditation – those that seek answers to bigger questions and seek for salvation still can be found meditating around this pious city. 

Laxman Jhula with the thirteen storey temple in the background
Rishikesh, India

Typical street market in Rishikesh

Badrinath, on the other hand was a world of its own, nestled amidst the beautiful Garhwal Himalayas, you feel no restraint in the flow of the mighty Alaknanda nor surprises in the presence of the hot springs which let people absolve their sins which they otherwise would not be able to do in the mighty but icy Alaknanda.

Irrespective of where each site is or the number of people it caters to every year – there seemed to be certain basic elements which were common to every place. They are –

•          waters of the holy rivers,
•         ghats that provide access to them,
•         platforms for performing various religious rituals,
•        provisions for bathing – men and women separately and preferably a changing room if possible,
•          temples,
•         presence of various kinds of trees which are considered holy and part of different religious functions and rituals,
•         areas for quiet contemplative meditation,
•         ghats for cremation although direct cremation alongside rivers is actively being discouraged in several places because of the pollution it creates (both air and water), so perhaps – an electric crematorium will be a norm in the days to come.
• the lost soul in search of a truth or simply a spiritual aspirant in search of his spiritual guru.

Banks of River Ganga w/ Geeta Bhavan in the background
Rishikesh

In addition to the  sacred, the more earthly requirements these places fulfill are in successfully providing - 

•         Dharmashalas and hotels so people can choose the appropriate accommodation according to their economic standing,
•          places that serve clean and healthy vegetarian food,
•         a local market that provides all the essentials necessary,
•        and last but not the least easy means of transportation to and from these places

A word of caution about high altitude sickness, be sure to acquire basic knowledge about what exactly altitude sickness refers to and what to do in the event of one. Most importantly, always make a list of contacts who provide emergency services both via ground and air-lifts (mostly choppers).