India must promote the Long Tail in Spiritual Tourism — or face an ecological disaster in Himalayan Valley
India must urgently build and promote the LONG TAIL in Spiritual Tourism.
Studies show unregulated tourism — which leads to uncontrolled construction — is a major cause of flash floods which wreak havoc in the Himalayan Valley, where Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh are located.
Info on these studies:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212420924002565
Uttarakhand and Himachal are home of famous Hindu temples and religious sites that attract dozens of millions of tourists each year who visit these holy places as part of their spiritual pilgrimage.
For instance, Hindus throng Uttarakhand as part of the Chota Char Dham circuit ( Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri) and to visit Haridwar-Rishikesh.
Geographically speaking, Uttarakhand and Himachal constitute the Head of India (along with J&K and Ladakh, which also house famous Buddhist and Shaivite spiritual sites)
It’s time we de-concentrate spiritual tourism in the Head of India — which causes ecological damage in Himalayan Valley regions — and build & promote the Long Tail in Spiritual Tourism.
Doing so will benefit the whole India, especially small towns and villages that have less-known Hindu temples.
Here is a map that shows the number of Hindu temples in each state of India.
As a Tamilian, I am proud my home region Tamil Nadu (TN) boasts the highest number of Hindu temples (nearly 80,000) among all Indian states.
The majority of these temples in TN are not archeological sites, but “living spiritual hubs” that are actively maintained with daily pujas.
And yet, most Tamilians today only visit a handful of religious towns like Madurai, Chidambaram, Kanchipuram, Rameshwaram, Trichy — which all suffer from overcrowding.
But there are hundreds of amazing small places across Tamil Nadu that very few know which I’ve visited and are “spiritually-charged” such as Vaitheeswaran Kovil, a small town that houses a powerful temple dedicated to Shiva as the Healer (who happens to be my Kula Deva)
For instance, you can undertake a spiritual pilgrimage across Tamil Nadu to visit the Navagraha temples, a cluster of 9 temples dedicated to the nine planetary deities (Navagrahas), located in and around the towns of Kumbakonam and Mayiladuthurai.
These temples, mainly dedicated to Lord Shiva except for the Sun temple, are visited to alleviate planetary afflictions and bring prosperity.
The superpower of India is its DIVERSITY, including its GEOGRAPHICAL DIVERSITY.
I invite you — especially Gen Z-ers — to explore the rich geographical diversity of Bharat — and save the Himalaya Valley states from ecological crisis — by visiting less-popular Hindu sites that constitute the Long Tail of Spiritual Tourism in India.
Read this article on how Gen Zers are fueling spiritual tourism in India.
Map of India with Hindu temples — Source: Dharmik Vibes
