Tirtha (Hinduism)

Tirtha (IAST: Tīrtha) is a Sanskrit word that means "crossing place, ford", and refers to any place, text or person that is holy. It particularly refers to pilgrimage sites and holy places in Hinduism as well as Jainism.

The process or journey associated with Tirtha is called Tirtha-yatra, while alternate terms such as Kshetra, Gopitha and Mahalaya are used in some Hindu traditions to refer to a "place of pilgrimage".

Tirtha: Holy Pilgrimage

Tirtha are of three kinds,
Jangam Tirtha is to a place movable,
  of a sadhu, a rishi, a guru,
Sthawar Tirtha is to a place immovable,
  like Benaras, Hardwar, Mount Kailash, holy rivers,
Manas Tirtha is to a place of mind,
  of truth, charity, patience, compassion, soft speech, soul.

Tīrtha (Sanskrit: तीर्थ) literally means "a ford, a "crossing place" in the sense of "transition or junction". Tirtha is a spiritual concept in Hinduism, particularly as a "pilgrimage site", states Axel Michaels, that is a holy junction between "worlds that touch and do not touch each other". The word also appears in ancient and medieval Hindu texts to refer to a holy person, or a holy text with something that can be a catalyst for a transition from one state of existence to another. It is, states Knut A. Jacobsen, anything that has a salvific value to a Hindu, and includes pilgrimage sites such as mountains or forests or seashore or rivers or ponds, as well as virtues, actions, studies or state of mind.Tirtha can be an actual physical sacred location in Hindu traditions, or a metaphorical term referring to meditation where the person travels to an intellectual sacred mind state such as of "truth, forgiveness, kindness, simplicity and such". Tirtha in Hindu texts, states Bhardwaj, is "one of the many ways toward self-realization and bliss".

The word Tirtha is found in the oldest layer, that is the Samhita of the Rigveda as well as other Vedas. In the hymns of Rigveda, such as 1.169.6 and 4.29.3, the context suggests that the word means "a way or road". In other hymns of Rigveda such as 8.47.11, states Kane, the context suggests the term means "a ford in the river". Yet, in other cases, Tirtha refers to any holy place, such as by the sea, or a place that connects a sacrificial ground (Yajna) to the outside. Later texts use the word Tirtha to refer to any spot, locality or expanse of water where circumstances or presence of great sages or gurus has made special.

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