What do I mean by “Pilgrimage Trails”? I mean a specific set of spiritual / sacred locations we visit connected to a particular story. India is a hodge podge of innumerable powerful spiritual and meditation spots. While we often visit them piece meal, doing a tour of specific spots as part of one journey can become a lot more powerful.

I have long been thinking of going on such specific pilgrimage trails. Maybe as a solo cycling trip. But it is a task to list out all the specific spots associated and then figure out the logistics and other associated information. If these places are small and obscure then the logistics are even more tricky.

Here are a few Pilgrimage Trails that I have thought of and maybe some day will embark upon as suitable for my karmic set 🙂 And I will keep updating them with logistical details as I come across them.

11 Pilgrimage Trails to Explore Around India

Giripradakshina around Sacred Hill, Arunachala of Tiruvannamalai

Circumambulation is given great importance in Indian culture. One of the most powerful circumambulation pilgrimages in India would have to the giripradakshina or girivalam around Arunachala – the sacred hill in temple town Tiruvannamalai. On pournami (full moon nights), over a lakh pilgrims visit this town for this 14 km pradakshina.

Read my detailed blog on this here: https://maproute.in/discover-the-girivalam-circumambulating-the-sacred-hill-of-arunachala-in-tiruvannamalai-tamil-nadu/

Ramana Maharshi Spots

While Ramana himself kept recommending the Girivalam to all his devotees, if you want a bit of extensive travelling pilgrimage then maybe a route with the various places where Ramana lived before being drawn to Arunachala would be interesting. For example, Ramana’s childhood hometown, Tiruchuzhi. Here’s a good blog that has a nice travelogue about some devotees doing such a pilgrimage: https://richardarunachala.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/tiruchuli-sri-ramanas-birthplace/

Sadhguru SriBrahma Spots

Sadhguru Shribrahma is considered as the previous birth of renowned Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Thus, we Isha meditators are usually eager to explore any Sadhguru SriBrahma related spots. And recently there was a YT documentary that has been viewed by over 10 lakh people and has sparked that interest multi-fold.

Here’s a detailed blog post on the various places one can visit as a Sadhguru SriBrahma pilgrimage trail.

The photo is of the Sevaashram shrine in RS Puram, Coimbatore. Pretty close to where I stayed there in Coimbatore.

Walk to Adiyogi: Mahashivratri Padyatra

Every year for Mahashivratri 100s of devotees walk from their cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Erode and so on all the way to Coimbatore for the mega celebration at Isha Yoga Center. They carry chariots or palanquins with the idols of Nayanmars, Sadhguru Shribrahma or Adiyogi. It is a very devotional padyatra… the energy of these walkers is truly something to experience. Know more details here in my blog post: https://maproute.in/walking-to-isha-mahashivratri-sadhguru-shiva-yatra-how-you-can-join-other-details/

Girnar Sacred Mountain Pilgrimage where the Jains & Aghoris Meet

Girnar mountain in Gujarat is considered sacred by Hindus (specifically Aghoris) and Jains both. There are two staircases up the mountain with its many temples, caves and sacred spots. You can choose to do the pilgrimage via either of the routes. Recently, a ropeway has also been started that takes you partway up the mountain to the Amba mata temple.

Know more about planning your Girnar pilgrimage here: https://maproute.in/girnar-pilgrimage-routes-the-new-old-stairways/

Girnar Parikrama: There is also another option, of circumambulating this Girnar mountain – but note that this is a less popular and wilder pilgrimage – only suitable for people willing to have an adventure. This 36 kms pilgrimage is usually done around Karthik full moon. More details here: https://maproute.in/girnar-parikrama-from-kartik-agyaras-to-kartik-poornima-dev-diwali/

5 Elements or Panch Bhoota Temples

Compared to a lot of India’s “hidden gem” temples, these panch bhoota temples are known but they would still be a great pilgrimage trail. It includes Arunachaleshwarar temple in Tiruvannamalai as Fire element, Jambukeshwarar temple in Tiruchirapalli as Water element, Chidambaram Nataraja temple as Space element, Kalahasti in Andhra as Wind element and Ekambareshwarar temple in Kanchi as Earth temple.

I have been only to the Arunachaleshwarar and Ekambareshwarar temples from these. Hope to do the rest soon sometime!

River Mysticism: Cauvery Trail

Once a friend and me were discussing doing a cycle trip by the Cauvery river. There are some amazing temples to explore on its banks, including one that can be considered the navel of Cauvery!

Similarly, one can do this for many of the rivers across India. Narmada would be an interesting one – in fact a lot of pilgrims walk the Narmada banks. Totally, intriguing.

Godavari has some amazing Ramadasu Bhadrachalam temples on its bank. I was curious whether one could take a ferry trip down the river, exploring different temples and ancient spots. Much tourism opportunity for our country 🙂

12 Jyotirlingas Trail

There are 12 traditional Jyotirlingas across India. A lot of other temples apart from these 12 are also being named as Jyotirlingas – sometimes for tourism sake or other reasons. So be careful to research them properly. The typical ones are Somnath in Gujarat, Kashi Vishwanath, Trayambakeshwar Nashik, Bhimashankar near Pune, Rameshwaram TN, Mahakaleshwar Ujjain, Omkareshwar MP, Kedarnath in Himalayas, SriSailam Mallikarjuna in Andhra, Grishneshwar in Maharashtra. The other two I believe are unclear.

108 Shakti Peethas, Devi Temple

Usually, with every Jyotirlinga there is a Shakti Peetha, powerful Devi temple nearby. Vishalakshi in Kashi and Chandrabhaga in Somnath. Other acclaimed ones include Kamakhya devi in Assam, Kali temple in Kolkata, Varahi devi near Kashi.

Records suggest there are 108 such temples across the Indian sub-continent. Do research the various places before heading there. Apart from the well known ones, there are often new ones who are simply called “shakti peethams” either because they are modelled after the original temple. Or because they want to gain from the tourist crowds. Sometimes obscure temples may be powerful , other times they could be tourist traps.

Shirdi Town Pilgrimage of Sai Baba Spots

Sometimes identifying the powerful spots within one pilgrimage town can be tricky. Like in Shirdi there are so many Sai Baba “spots”. Here’s a detailed guide on understanding about them and then visiting them for hopefully a better pilgrimage! Read the guide here: https://maproute.in/curate-your-shirdi-sai-baba-trip-one-stop-blog-post/

Nimbargi Sampradaya Pilgrimage Trail, Nisargadatta’s Lineage

Due to some personal reasons, I happened to look into this barely known Nimbargi Sampradaya, part of the ancient Nav Nath Tradition. This is also the lineage of the well-known Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Here is my detailed blog post with many of their important spots marked : https://maproute.in/nimbargi-sampradaya-pilgrimage-trail-nath-tradition-nisargadatta-maharaj-lineage/

It is amazing how many enlightened beings of all types have crisscrossed this country! I suspect if I kept writing these trails, I might cover almost every patch of the country 😀 What do you think?

Many more exist….

These are just a few trails that I have thought of. But so many exist across the breadth of India. And many people undertake such journeys. Another travel blogger Mariellen went on a Mirabai trail following the life journey of Mirabai the acclaimed Bhakti yogi. One can also explore Bharat Mata temples dedicated to the deified country itself. Many more such pilgrimage trails exist in India. Within small towns and big cities, across states and across the country. So much diversity, so much depth! 🙂

Any other pilgrimage trails you would like to add here, share in comments. I may add them to this list.