Mountain, Water, Rock, God: Understanding Kedarnath in the Twenty-First CenturyA free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. In Mountain, Water, Rock, God, Luke Whitmore situates the disastrous flooding that fell on the Hindu Himalayan shrine of Kedarnath in 2013 within a broader religious and ecological context. Whitmore explores the longer story of this powerful realm of the Hindu god Shiva through a holistic theoretical perspective that integrates phenomenological and systems-based approaches to the study of religion, pilgrimage, place, and ecology. He argues that close attention to places of religious significance offers a model for thinking through connections between ritual, narrative, climate destabilization, tourism, development, and disaster, and he shows how these critical components of human life in the twenty-first century intersect in the human experience of place. |
Contents
The Kedarnath doli procession leaves Ukhimath in 2011 | 109 |
A Garhwali deity enters the temple along with her insignia and her fellow | 115 |
A helicopter lands in Kedarnath in 2011 | 128 |
The Kedarnath temple on opening day in 2014 | 175 |
Glossary | 211 |
| 227 | |
201 | 241 |
| 251 | |
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Common terms and phrases
apda Badrinath Bahuguna began Bhukund Bhairavnath Bhupendra century chapter Char Dham Char Dham yatra Chorabari complex connected contexts conversation cultural darshan Delhi deora yatris devotees devta disaster divine doli eco-social ecology economic environment environmental experience Facebook felt floods of 2013 Ganga Garhwal Garhwali deities Gaurikund ghee ghee malish Goddess groups Guptkashi happened helicopter high season Himalaya Hindi Hindu human idea important inner sanctum journey June jyotirlinga Kedar Kedarakhanda Kedarnath temple Kedarnath valley Kumaon landscape landslides linga locals Mandakini River mountain nala Devi pahari Pandavas path pilgrimage priests pilgrimage tourism political Pradesh prakriti presence Press Trust puja Rambara recent region relationship religion religious renunciant residents ritual road sadhu samiti sanskrit sense shakti shiva Shiva Purana shrine situation social South Asia specific story term traditional Trust of india Ukhimath understanding University Press Uttarakhand Uttarakhand Char Dham vikas village virashaiva visited Kedarnath weather worship yatra tourism