Chris Deegan

Abstract of paper given at Hinduism and Ecology conference:
Circumambulating the Narmada: Damming a Sacred Landscape

Early inhabitants of Narmada valley rock shelters clearly displayed the motif of their physical and spiritual environment as home, workplace, and spiritual theater in rock wall painting. Integration of lifestyle, world view, and physical surrounding later gave occasion to the expressive behavior of pilgrimage as a medium of linking spiritual and physical landscapes. The paper will outline the sacred geography of the Narmada, its particularly unique pilgrim circulation pattern, and the redefining of religious and ecological links in this region.

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Hinduism and Ecology conference participants