Pilgrims' progress: A nation of believers

Bonita Baruah / TNN / Apr 9, 2006, 00:28 IST

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Tirupati, the country's richest shrine - the revenue of TTD is expected to beat the revenue of Vatican City in a couple of years.

Pilgrims' progress: A nation of believers

NEW DELHI: If we believe in the power of prayer, we also believe in the path of pilgrimage. No wonder, millions throng India's top pilgrim centres every day.
At Ajmer Sharif, there are 5,000 visitors daily. The number goes up on special days, and during the annual six-day Urs, the gathering swells to 3-5 lakhs. Number of visitors each year: over 25 lakhs.
Tirupati, the country's richest shrine �� the revenue of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) is expected to beat the revenue of Vatican City in a couple of years �� gets about 25,000 pilgrims everyday.
During weekends, the number can reach a staggering 45,000-50,000; during festival days and vacations, 75,000-80000. On Vaikuntha Ekadasi and New Year's Day, one lakh pilgrims visit and on Garudaseva Day alone, nearly three-four lakh.

Annual count: 1.5 to 2 crore. The annual revenue of TTD ranges between Rs 650-700 crore. Of the total income, hundi collections alone account for Rs 279 crore, while sale of ladoos fetches the temple administration nearly Rs 42.5 crore.
At Vaishno Devi, the number of devotees exceeds 50 lakh annually. About three lakh throng Puttaparthi during special occasions like Sathya Sai Baba's birthday and Shivratri. At Puri's Jagannath Temple, an estimated 15,000 people visit everyday and 1.5 lakh during festivals.

If the numbers are awesome, so is the unflinching faith that takes tens of thousands of pilgrims to these sites braving inclement weather, long treks and high altitudes.
"Faith is an integral part of our culture, and so are pilgrimages," says Neelam Sinha, an NRI who came to India last year to visit Badrinath.
NRIs, incidentally, form a major chunk of pilgrims, says Arvind Khanna of Jyoti travels, which organises tours to far-flung Kailash-Mansoravar besides Amarnath and the Char Dhams.
At the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health at Velankanni in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, the most popular Christian pilgrimage centre in India, rector Father Xavier says he has no place to store the thousands of little replicas of hearts, livers and lungs that devotees have donated.
Pilgrims to the shrine offer a candle in the shape of a heart in case of cardiac problems, a liver in case of jaundice, lungs in case of tuberculosis. If the ailment is cured, they go back with small silver and gold replicas.
About five million pilgrims visit this shrine a year. The average annual income of the shrine is about Rs 20 crore. "People belonging to all religions, cast and creed visit Velankanni praying to Mother Mary for various needs," says Fr Xavier.
"We receive thousands of replicas every year. They tell the stories of those people whose favours were granted by Mother Mary."
(With inputs from V J Thomas, Rajaram Satapathy, Sanjay Singh Badnor, Neelima P, Aarti Tikoo Singh and Sharmishta Koushik)

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