tirtha

तीर्थ tīrtha

A 'crossing-place', a sacred site (often a river or shrine) where pilgrimage (tirtha-yatra) is made.

Where this term appears

The Char Dham Temples
If you want the wider logic of why Hindus travel to such places at all, the companion piece on what tirtha means sets out the idea of the crossing-place, the ford between worlds.
The Kumbh Mela Temples
The logic is the older logic of the tirtha , the sacred crossing-place where the everyday world and the sacred are thought to meet.
Tirupati: The Temple of Venkateshwara Temples
For why a particular hill or river becomes a place pilgrims must reach, the idea of the crossing-place, see What is Tirtha.
What are the Shakti Peethas? Temples
For the wider idea of sacred ground that the peethas belong to, see what is a tirtha.
Why do so many temples face east? Temples
Most classical Hindu temples face east so that the deity, seated in the sanctum, looks toward the rising sun and is met by the first light of dawn. East is the…
Who is Ganga? Deities
To understand the claim you have to understand the word tirtha , a crossing place, a ford.
A walk down the ghats Treatise
…round and washed his feet in the confluence, making this the Padodaka Tirtha , the ford of the water that touched the god's feet.
The body of the city Treatise
Every tirtha , every crossing, every holy river and mountain and shrine of the whole subcontinent is said to be present here, folded into the city's own geography, so that to make the rounds of Kashi is to make…