Impact of Religious Tourism on Sacred Historic Towns in India Mragank Gupta 2018MCO008 Abstract "Religious tourism" is very contemporary word given by tourism industry to promote economic benefits. It is considered more to be the commercialization of pilgrimage. Religious tourism refers to contemporary patterns of tour to places of religious importance or pilgrimage sites where visitors aim to fulfil religious enquires of exploration as well as recreational needs of sightseeing and involving a change away from the regular environment. Some of the predominant religious tourism destinations in India are Pushkar, Tirupathy, Ajmer, Puri, Ujjain, Varanashi, Mathura, Nanded etc among others. These religious places attract a huge amount of religious tourists from various parts of the country and abroad. Due to its reverence, there is a rapid increase in the floating population which holds activities of tourism during pilgrimages each year. This floating population is cyclic in nature as it maximizes during certain festivals or certain time in year and rest at low volume. It has a high potential to impact the built environment in various ways including development pressure, rapid urbanization, carrying capacity issues, ignorance of heritage in these sites due to the lack of effective development plan which provide development of infrastructure, direction to growth, conservation of heritage. These towns develop haphazardly leading to damaging the heritage aspect of area. The aim of this paper is to understand the impact of religious tourism on historic towns in India. This paper describe both positive and negetive impacts which is supported by different case studies of sacred historic towns which is considered to be achieved under following objectives• To Understand the concept of religious tourism and pilgrimage in India. • To understand the concept of sacred historic towns in India. • To understand the current scenario of religious tourism in india. • To analyze the impact of religious tourism on sacred historic towns in India. Keywords: Religious Tourism, Pilgrimage, Sacred Historic towns, India.
Introduction Mankind from time immemorial travels for different reasons like the search for food, medication, and knowledge, business etc. one of such travel is based on religious purpose. History of religious tourism in India is from early period and could be old to much before evolution of settlements and towns. It was in the form of explorer, mystics and sage who wander on land to attain enlightenment and other spiritual and super natural purpose. Religious tourism is mass tourism with the intention to visit places of worship, holy places or shrines and also could be in searching the truth and puzzles in one's life or search for knowledge. It has been attained to be one of the oldest form of tourism.1 Due to increase in accessibility and availability of advance transportation system, Pilgrimage which considered as an epitome at an interface of of devotion, hardship, spirituality, travel and exploration is transforming into contemporary scenerio of religious tourism. The New age version of the pilgrim area caters to the more modern scenario, displays more ‘tourism like’ characteristics including changing patterns of visits, limiting the engagement of tourists with rituals, commercializing the organization typical to package tours and travel and a particular way of marketing the destinations. Rishikesh and Haridwar are prime examples of being marketed as, much more than just a pilgrim center or in a larger picture become an entire tourist paradise with extended adventure sports. A large proportion of visitors to sacred sites have an additional motive of getting away on holidays, letting go and now visit sacred sites on holidays irrespective of the religious importance of time in performing pilgrimage.2 Human habitation in form of town in India can be evidenced from Indus valley civilization. The archaeological remains of town are material proof of it but we can also get an idea of social organisation of human habitation from prehistoric times through the cluster occurrence of painted rock shelters. These cave dwellers gradually in time began building homes and start settling in nearby areas. These cluster of houses eventually developed into hamlets then further growth leads to formation of villages then Towns.3
Concept of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Religious tourism is that type of tourism, where individuals make visits to different sacred places for religious purposes. It is generally defined as the form of tourism where people travel for pilgrimage and spiritual purpose either individually or in a group of people. It encompasses various types of travels driven by different religions and where the religious site is the tourist destination. Religion tourism and pilgrimage is primarily referred as the travel that happens outside the regular environment for religious purposes, usually. In India funerals , wedding ceremonies and other rituals and celebrations of various festivals has a very strong religious connotation, then when travel on a religious basis is planned by the priests or religious leaders or other individuals primarily in terms of these aspects, then it can also be regarded as religious tourism. With elaborating Varanashi as an example, The idea of religious tourism can be highlighted. The city being located on the banks of river Ganga has around 4000 temples, 3000 heritage sites and 84 ghats. The individuals either from this country or overseas have generated this perception that this holy river will wash off all your sins once you take a dip in her water. One of the most common aspects of making visits to religious places is to pray, as all individuals believe in the Almighty. In India, the religious places too have been built with artistic and creative ways that they have attracted individuals. 4 1
Jan 2014, Cusack C. Norman A. Oct 2013, Shinde K. 3 2013, Mishra O.P. Tiwari P., Rock art of S-Belt region. 4 Nov 2008, Tala M.L., Pandurean M. 2
Pilgrimage is said to be the traditional way of expressing religious worship and the oldest form of tourism. Pilgrimage is one of the integral aspect of tourism industry. It involves a journey, by pilgrim, from place to place for spiritual significance. It act as an devotion because of its long distance travel to a sacred place. Since the time of the ancient mythologies up to the present, all the religions in the world have made hope concrete by proclaiming to believers that a visit to a holy place would relieve all or some of their troubles, whether spiritual or worldly. Visits to holy places for the sake of purification, redemption, fulfilment of vows, healing, or something else are called pilgrimages.5 “Pilgrimage can be simply viewed as the travel with a religious experience.” It is easy to characterize journey of religious tourism as all trips are toward religious sites. However, some researchers referred pilgrims in a different sense. According to them, it is a journey with defined holistic purpose. Pilgrims knows that their journey would be difficult with full of life long challenges. Pilgrimage is not a Holiday, it is a life changing journey that pilgrim undertakes during their significant period of life. Pilgrimage help in building new perception and deeper understanding to life, present blessing to people, provides healing environment. Simply travelling to a sacred site is not adequate enough to identify the traveller as the pilgrim. Ritual and austerity are always expected to involve to a greater or lesser degree.6 In contrast to religious tourism, the key feature of pilgrimage is from its incorporation conveying religious involvement into the journey. Under this perspective, motivations for pilgrimage will differ from those of religious tourism. As characterized by their destination, it is possible to distinguish between religious tourists and pilgrims by the way they behave ; For example, People on a pilgrimage usually started chanting god’s name in musical tone throughout their journey to enhance or maintain the aura of journey while tourist did not do so. This thing is also done to keep the mind devoted to god and also to keep it isolated from the distraction created by hardship of journey. A visit with devotional intention can be considered as pilgrimage. Inferring in this sense that the pilgrimage cannot be just a simple tourist trip or a curiosity stop to a sacred place. It also requires forms of devotion involved. If we see religious tourism from traditional perception, it referred as challenging journey. Only travel to sacred site cannot justify traveller as pilgrimage. The Early pilgrims had experienced hardship.
Perspective of Religious Tourism in India Religious tourism has two distinct feature, one is faith – means the domestic tourist of spiritual attainment and religious beliefs towards the deity or the religious spot. Second is the faith or beliefs of foreign tourist. Here the foreign tourist means to those which do not have religious connection to site. These are the individuals, who have different religious backgrounds and belong to different regions or countries. For them, India is the destination with spiritual value and religious character with a sense of novelty and respect. Foreigner experienced different ethnical and moral values from their own place. In India, there is possession of religious beliefs, faith in worshipping the deities and when one is dedicated towards the achievement of the desired goals and objectives, then they plan religious tourism. While planning for a religious tour, they usually form a strong belief that all their problems would get solved, they will be able to achieve their goals and promote well-being. In India, there are numerous religious places all over the country. These places attracted not only individuals from within the country but also many people from different corners of world. Religious tourism can be divided into the following classifications, namely- faithbased journey, leisure vacations, pilgrimages, conventions and monastery visit , rallies, religious tourist attractions and faith-based camps.7 5
Jan 2014, Cusack C. Norman A. 2016, Bozic S. Spasojevic B. Vujiciic M.D. Stamkovic I. 7 2012,Strategic Initiative and Government Advisory (SIGA) Team. 6
India is a secular country, where every individual has the right to practice the religion of his or her own choice. The religious places are established in accordance to the religions within the country. The major religions of the country are Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity, Muslim, Jainism, Buddhism, and Parsi. The Hindus make visits to the temples, Sikhs to the gurudwaras, Christians to the churches, Muslims to the mosques, Jains have their temples, and Buddhists, and Parsis make visits to religious places, based on their faith.8 In some cases, individuals make visits to religious places of the foreign religion which they do not follow like if a hindu family had planned a tour to Pushkar, they will also incorporate the visit to Ajmer Dargah Sarif and famous jain temples there in their Tour plan.
CURRENT SCENARIO OF RELIGIOUS TOURISM IN INDIA According to the National council for applied economic research (NCAER) Delhi, Religious tourism is one of the emerging market of India with a report of 230 million tourist trips undertaken by both urban and rural Indians shows that a larger portion of trip is from religious tourism in India, out of other trips like trip to sea beaches, hill stations and trip to metropolitan cities. It is overserved that the trip taken to religious spot like Tripathi Balaji catches larger number of tourist in comparison with Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. Almost 23 million people have visited the temple town of Tirupati, Andra Pradesh annually to catch a glimpse of Lord Balaji. Whereas, in the northern union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, almost 17.2 million devotees in the name of Vaishnavi Devi trek to the uphill of 15km for their religious beliefs and to give respect to the female deity. 9 NO. OF DOMESTIC TOURISTS (IN MILLIONS) VISITS IN INDIA (2000-17)
Source: Market Research Division, Ministry of Tourism
The above graph shows the growth rate of domestic tourism in India in Last 17 years(2000-17). In the year 2016, 161.55 Crores people have undergone domestic tourism with an increase of 12.8% annual growth. 8 9
2016, Bilim Y. Ozer O. 2014, NCEAR survey report.
Almost 83.6% of total Domestic tourism was held in only these 10 states. Top five States in list i.e. Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra respectively, contribute to 63.2% of total domestic tourism in India. Source: Market Research Division, Ministry of Tourism
NO. OF FOREIGN TOURISTS (IN MILLIONS) VISITS IN INDIA (2000-17)
Source: Market Research Division, Ministry of Tourism
The above graph shows the growth rate of Foreign Tourism in India in Last 17 years(2000-17). In the year 2017, 26.89M people have visited India with an increase of 8.8% annual growth. Almost 87.6% of total Foreign tourism was held in only these 10 states. Top five States in list i.e. Maharastra, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi respectively, contribute to 66.4% of total domestic tourism in India. Source: Market Research Division, Ministry of Tourism
ANALYSIS OF DOMESTIC TOURISM ON BASIS OF PURPOSE OF VISIT As domestic tourism contribute to more than 98% of total tourism in India. hence it become very necessary to understand it in detail. Of all the domestic trips undertaken in India, about 90 % are undertaken within the same state. Hence, intrastate movement is the main contributor to domestic tourism in India. A On an average, at all India level, contribution of social trips to total trips works out to be 74 %. This is followed by religious trips and medical trips which account for 10 % and 6.2 % respectively of the total overnight trips. The states where significant proportion of trips is religious trips are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Kerela, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu together account for 44% of total religious trips undertaken in the country.
Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.
Top 10 states of destination for Religious trips
TRIP DURATION
Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.
The average trip duration at All-India level is 3.4 nights. The longest trip duration is seen in Lakshadeep, where tourists prefer to spend 5.4 night on an average followed by Chandigarh. Peak season for tourism in a state is month in which average number of nights spent in that state is highest. On an average, overnight tourists spend as many as 17 nights per trip undertaken in Andaman & Nicobar Island that is, in June followed by 16nights in Arunachal Pradesh in same month. In Rajasthan, it's 3.84 on an average in the month of November, while Uttar Pradesh is lowest with 3.38 nights per trip in the month of 3.38. March is considered as lean season for domestic tourism with average trip duration at AllIndia level is 2.91. Rajasthan express 2.58 nights of average trip duration in lean season keeping the seasonal variation very low. Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.
TRIP EXPENDITURE The contribution of tourism industry in the economy of different states can be measured by expenditure incurrd during trips. The expenditure by tourists pertaining to a trip, be it domestic or international, is likely to be very much dependent on many factors such as; purpose of the visit, socio-economic characteristics of the visitors, types of tourism services availed during the trips (e.g. type of accommodation – five star, three star etc.) and trip duration, etc. Total domestic tourism expenditure on business trips in India was Rs. 4929 crore in 2008-09.
Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.
TRIP EXPENDITURE DURING RELIGIOUS TRIPS Total domestic tourism expenditure on religious trips in India is estimated at Rs. 11883 crore in 200809. At all India level, on an average 76.4 % of the total domestic expenditure incurred during religious trips is attributed to passenger transport services. Expenditure under tourism connected products head has second highest share (9.9 %) in the domestic tourism expenditure in case of religious trips. Shares of expenditure on food & beverages, accommodation services and cultural, sports, religious & other recreational services are 6.3 %, 3.1 % and 0.9 % respectively. Expenditure on cultural, sports, religious & other recreational services during religious trips contributes less than 3 % for 33 states. This share is less than 4 % for all the states.
Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.
Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.
Distribution Table of Tourism expenditure during Religious Trips
Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.
TOURISM RELATED NATIONAL SCHEMES IN INDIA • Overseas Promotion and Publicity including Market Development Assistance. • Assistance to IHMs/FCIs/IITTM/NCHMT . • Domestic Promotion and Publicity including Hospitality. • Assistance for Large Revenue Generating Projects. • Incentives to Accommodation Infrastructure • Assistance to Central Agencies for Infrastructure Development • Market Research including 20 years Perspective plan • Capital Outlay on Public Works (Bharat Paryatan Bhawan). • Swadesh Darshan-Integrated Development of Tourist Circuits on Specific Themes. • National Mission for Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD)
Historic Towns and Urban Areas According to the Washington Charter(1987) of ICOMOS, The Historic cities and towns are old areas whether small or large including cities, town and centres either living or dead and were created and developed by man gradually in time and shows an expression of social diversity in history. They comprises built and natural environment and have been expressing the living experiences of the dwellers. They have embodied the various values of the traditional urban culture. (Charter, 1987)
Sacred Historic Towns In India The every historic town emerge out either in the form religious or spiritual centre, political centre, trade and commerce centre etc. The emergence of these town also varied throughout the timeline. Indian sub-continent also became a testimony of evolution of these centres from its emergence, once flourishing to its Zenith then degrading in ignorance and being dead to regeneration of the town though-out the historical timeline. Since due to different reason of emergence resulting the manifestation of different physical attributes of spatial layout like hierarchy of streets, built fabric, visual linkages, relationship with neighbourhood environment, for example The religious and spiritual towns are a composition of urban space inside a concentric pattern of geometric shapes forming patterns that will illustrate the abstraction of structures of the universe known as Mandala, depicted in ancient literature of Indian traditional architecture. They also have higher degree of axiality, alongside a corridor with regular settlement pattern focused around Temple as core10 while the political centre developed as fortified town most probably on hill side and the trade routes results in emergence and development of trade and commercial town which comprises of grandeur Havelies of merchants along the route. The Indian settlement patterns are overlays of the civilizations that belonged to various different periods of historic rulers. Settlement pattern of India resembles diversity in culture, shows different social groups. The architecture of these urban forms have had interesting elements. It includes places of interest like palaces of traditional era, beautifully caved traditional houses and many building with religious importance. Cities of different corners of India laid different pattern of historic importance. Towns of the medieval origin in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan generally have four features signifying their morphological character: the castle or fortress, the temple, the tank or water bodies, and the wall enclosing the separate cells of communities of social hierarchical order, the lowest being at the fringe or even outside the wall. Agra, Dhar, Sikri, Golconda, Bijapur, Pune, Delhi, Chittorgarh, Jaipur(Amer), Udaipur, Ajmer, Aurangabad, etc. were some of the towns having medieval plan-based morphology. Most of them now have a changed urban landscape because of the super- imposition of the post-independence development. Medieval towns sought their sites invariably are present on high mounds or are present b sides of isolated hills or are in a naturally fortified depression. Besides the advantage of the natural defence, the availability of water is also responsible for their irregular morphology. Some of the towns are squeezed between high mounds and water- bodies at least from two sides. Their irregular, tortuous and narrow streets near the centre or core also have distorted the shape or layout.
10
Oct 2013, Shinde K.
Impact of Religious Tourism India have had the largest religious traffic than compared with the rest of the world. India being home to a amalgamation of various religions and having a very large number of various world famous religious sites and pilgrimage attractions. These religious destinations have formed a large part of India's vibrant cultural heritage and are a major aspect of its tourism, that contributes to it's social, cultural and economic development of a particular region or area by providing vast opportunities for employment to locals, Improvement of infrastruture like road, water supply, electricity and bring out new projects for development. It offers them motivation to learn and develop new skills11 Since these religious centers are traditionally small-scale towns, religious tourism attracts its own pressure such as- high stress over the infrastructure due to huge inux of the floating population, , dilapidating built heritage and urban space, water bodies, encroachment of the existing resources, increasing traffic congestion, etc. The inner city's core starts to deteriorate to severe pathetic conditions on deprived of the original character. As these sacred places have to accommodate the oating population, more than its carrying capacity with no special associated infrastructure and planning and for the additional frequent inux.12 Hence it is crucial to analyze the impact of the religious tourism on the historic towns and its extent of issues and challenges emerging from it.
11 12
UKEssays. November 2018. Impact Of Religious Tourism On Locals In India Theology Religion Oct 2013, Shinde K.
CASE STUDIES PUSHKAR (RAJ.)
Pushkar is one of the most important religious towns of India. The Brahma Mandir being the most signifcant temple of the town (said to be the first temple to be dedicated to Lord Brahma). There are more than 400 historic structures in and around the settlement with the holy lake or sarovar in the centre and Aravali Mountains on the sides forming a perfect oasis.
Evolution of Pushkar Town
View of Pushkar: The Sacred Historic Town. Source: Internet
Pre 4th Century BCE• Origin of Pushkar Sarovar, Brahma JI performed yagna according to Vedas • Apsara Menka came to Pushkar to bath in its sacred Sarovar. • Maharaja Yudhisthir bath in Pushkar Sarovar. 4th -2nd Century BCE• The stone inscriptions of the 2 century B.C. in the Buddhists Stupa at Sanchi in Bhopal (Centra India), mentions the charitable donations made by Bhikshus Arhadina, Nagarakshita, Arya (venerable) Buddharakshitra, Himgiri, Pusak and Isidata (a woman), all inhabitants of Pushkar. This evidence the early human settle- Pushkar: Ground Zero. (Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.) ment in Pushkar. 1st -12th Century CE• Pratihara rulers of Mandor had restored Pushkar Tirtha in the 7th century, repairing the ghats and restoring the sarovar by making an embankment on the side by which water flowed. They built twelve Dharamashalas and Ghats on the three sides of the Pushkar sarovar. To this day they are known as Pariharam Ki Sala. • The temple of Varah ji was built by King Arnoraja of Chauhan dynasty, and whoalso built the Ana Sagar at Ajmer, and executed repairs to the Pushkar Sarovar. 12th -20th Century CE• In 17th Century, The temple was pulled down by Aurangzeb. he also broke an old temple of Kesho Rain near Gau Ghat and built a mosque in its place. • Maharaja Jai Singh II. of Jaipur in 18th Century CE appeared to rebuilt, the inscription Fig: Evolution of Town: Intensity of Color Red shows the age of on the pedestal of the image shows that the structure i.e. darker in color more the age. (Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.) present image was installed in 1727 A.D • Jahangir Mahal was built in 1670 AD to celebrate his victory over Maharaja Amar Singh of Mewar. This structure was built with two identical pavilions of red sandstone standing on a raised plinth.
Built Heritage of Pushkar The historic city of Pushkar have abundance of heritage structures with different typologies and significance. These structures and their setting in the urban settlement are play significant role in testifying the morphology of town. According to IGNCA (Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts) listing, there are 362 heritage building identified. INTACH have marked 15 heritage sites in Pushkar. There are two heritage sites marked by/ protected under the Archeological Survey of India, namely Brahma Mandir and Jahangir Mahal. However, according to the detailed survey conducted by the Shanrakshan consultants team, there are as many as 402 heritage buildings identified in and around Pushkar. Built Heritage attributes of Pushkar covers a wide range: • Temples • Streets • House temple • Ghats • Dharamshalas • Ashrams • Water systems • Havelis
Status of Religious Tourism in Pushkar On an average around 30,000-50,000 thousand tourists visit the temple every day, but during festivals Guru Purnima and Karthik Purnima, the number of devotees coming to the temple reaches upto 1-2 lakhs. The tourist inflow of 9 years from 2005-2014 with bifurcation of domestic and foreign tourist is given in table below. Tourists
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Domestic 1587300 1762700 1768240 1745040 1745040 1965380 2032020 2323050 2659720 3234750 Foreign
67290
73573
76959
86030
Total
1654590 1836270 1845190 1906120 1820190 2045060 2100911 2393810 2722070 3305350
2015
2016
2017
2018
3786360
3961130
4636005
4455340
69494
97651
101673
109904
3855854
4058781
4737678
4565244
75155
79682
68891
70766
62353
70603
Table: Past growth trends in tourist arrivals Pushkar (Source: 20 Year Perspective Plan for Sustainable Tourism in Rajasthan by Department of Tourism Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture- Government of India)
Inference from the above data • 3 times growth if total tourist inflow in last 13 years (2005-2018) in town. • 3 times growth of domestic tourists in town. • 20% is the current growing rate of domestic tourism in town in last 4 years. • 60% is the current growing rate of forign tourism in town in last 4 years.
Graph: Past growth trend in tourist arrivals, Pushkar (Source: 20 Year Perspective Plan for Sustainable Tourism in Rajasthan by Department of Tourism Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture- Government of India)
Overnight Tourists in Pushkar The table shows the month wise overnight visit of tourist in the town.
Table: Past growth trend in tourist arrivals, Pushkar (Source: Collection of domestice tourist for state of Rajasthan by Market research division, Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture- Government of India)
Tourism infrastructure
There are 43 dharamshalas, 185 hotels, 39 ashrams, 37 guest house and 7 resorts available in Pushkar which can accommodate 9730 person in it. During Cattle fair the number of tourist visiting town is more than the town can accommodate. When there is lack in tourist accommodation, residential houses acts as guest house. A lot of new hotels, restaurants, and dharamshalas have shown up in last few years but none of them is regularized. No rules and regulations is being followed by them.
Table: Types and number of accommodation (Source: Tourism Department, Rajasthan)
Analysis of existing Tourism Infrastructure with Tourism Inflow As per available tourism data of month wise tourist inflow in town 2005-06. The Overnight Domestic tourists inflow annually was - 168565 Out of which, Maximum overnight tourist were in month of October i.e. - 46245 which is approx. 1/3rd of the total domestic tourist visits annually. => If we further distribute these no. in the same pattern in days i.e. 1/3rd of 46245 will visit at same time, we get a maximum overnight tourism inflow of 15415 of domestic tourism. Same in Foreign Tourism inflow in month of October, Total OvernightForeign tourism inlfow annually was - 67290 In month of October,It is 6309 i.e. approx. 1/10th of the annual overnight forign tourists inflow. => If we further distribute these no. in same pattern in days i.e. 1/10th of 6309 will visit at same time, we get a maximum overnight foreign tourist inflow of 630 at same time. Thus, Total maximum Tourism inflow could be approx. 16046 at same time in year 2005-06. which is 60% more than the available tourists accomodation infrastructure in town. This no. is also equivalent to the estimated average existing population of town which was 18208 (approx.)1
Impact of Religious Tourism on Historic Town of Pushkar Development and Land Use The Table shows the deviation in land use from 1991 to 2011. The table shows in 1991, 32 acres of commercial land use is being proposed for development which reached to 105 acres in 2011( 3 times the proposed area) while the residential area had been reduced to 196 acre from 273 acres proposed in 2011 master plan.
Population in 2001 was 14791 (Census of India) Population in 2011 was 21626 (Census of India)
1
(Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
Map: Generalized existing land use- 2011 (Source: Pushkar Master Plan 2011-2031)
The Deviation in land use in land development from proposed use shows the effect of Development Pressure generated by religious tourism. Most of the existing residential land use is being converted to commercial land use and mixed land use in historic core. Most of the buildings in these areas have commercial activity like shops or restaurant on the ground floor and residences on the floors above. Also some buildings in the old area have been converted into guest houses or home stays and low budget hotels due to increasing demand of affordable accommodation for the tourist visiting Pushkar. These buildings have tourist accommodation in some part of the property and residence in the rest of it. Also, a few large hotels have come up between the dense residential settlements of the town. Impact on Urban characteristics of Town The city of Pushkar, said to be one of oldest settlements on earth, has gone through various ages and layers of modifications according to people, relevant rulers and cultural changes. This process of modification in the living and settings can be seen through the multiple layers of architectural styles and urban characteristics in the city. The old structures/ houses of the city exhibit similar architectural styles, heights, enclosure, and planning. The mohallas also exhibit similar structuring with irregular patterns resulting in a dense and haphazard type urban grain of the city. The narrow streets with closely spaced houses have also been planned according to the climate of the area to allow self shading and create cooler areas. This is also one of the main reasons for the fine grain of the old areas. The conversion of old structures into hotels, guest houses and dharamshalas require some changes and additions and alteration in the buildings, which has led to further congestion of already dense Fig: Image showing new addition being done to areas. This conversion has also altered the heri- old structure. (Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.) tage fabric of the city to large extent.
• There is a lack of building guidelines in the town which has resulted in unregulated development in and around heritage or historic fabric of the settlement. The unplanned growth between old structures and addition and alterations to historic buildings has led to deterioration of historic architectural fabric and planning. • The lack of height regulations in the town has resulted in various inappropriate and unregulated construction of new structures of more than 2 storey as well as addition of additional floors above old historic structures. This is a major issue of the town as it affects the original skyline of the town. • The unregulated conservation of ghats and historic buildings is resulting in further deterioration of the heritage structures.
Deteriorating condition of Baradari structure. (Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
Incongruous alteration to existing historic structure near temple building.
(Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
Image: View of the bazaar street with encroachments and stalls at the entrance of Brahma temple
(Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
Excessive Population Growth Unlike other towns, population of Pushkar in the last five decades has grown very slowly from 5934 in 1951 to 14789 in 2001. This population growth of the town is largely due to natural growth, as there isn’t any major economic activity to boost migration. But, The population grew rapidly from 2001 to 2011, which is primarily because of the stability of economic condition of the people of Pushkar due to the rise in tourist inflow to the town.
Table 1.2: Growth of Population (Source: census 1951-2011)
In the decade of 2001-2011, there is an excessive growth in population has been evidenced which is 30% more than the estimated population growth in 2001 census. This testify the development pressure occur on town. Impacts on Physical Infrastructure of Town • Depletion of Natural water system The stage of development clearly indicates that the area falls under Dark Zone. The ground water reserve is depleting at alarming rate. Over exploitation of ground water due to construction of water tube wells. With modernization, the use of traditional water systems (wells and baolis) have been discontinued. These were important part of the water harvesting system and its discontinuity has lead to decrease in Fig: Dried Well with visible crack on wall ground water recharge leading to depleted water (Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.) table in the town. • Drainage Rain water is a crucial part of the water recharging the ground water table. However, it is not being utilized for the purpose. In the present scenario the storm water mixes with the sewerage water which results in flooding of main bazaar street and this untreated sewerage water along with rain water enters the Sarovar.
Fig: Water loging in main market area. (Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
• Solid Waste Management Due to improper implementation of solid waste disposal, waste is being disposed off on the streets and nearby open areas which include surface water body. This has led to unhygienic conditions in the town and ill presentation of temple town to the visitors. No proper Land fill site is allocated for the garbage disposal. • Transportation
Fig: Image showing waste deposited around Puran Kund. (Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
Lack of organized parking facility, it is leading to roadside parking and congestion along the streets. Motorized vehicular traffic on streets causes congestion and pollution, and conflicts with pedestrian movement in the town. There is no proper segregation of pedestrian and vehicular movement.
Fig: Unorganized 2 wheeler parking on the main bazaar street at Brahma chowk
(Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
Conclusion The Traditional form of pillgrimage, which is considered to be an epitome at an interface of devotion, hardship, spirituality, travell and exploration is converting into idea of religious tourism in contemporary scenario due to increase in assecibilty and availability of advance transportation system. These activities at religious sites are seems to be uniformly distribute throughout the time with profound maximas that were noticed during special occassions of festivals andfairs such as Rath Yatra in Puri, Diwali in Ayodhya, Holi in Braj, Kartik Month in Pushkar etc. The economic opportunities raised in result of invicible religious tourism will unavoidable rapid urbanization of place or town and its immediate surroundings. Hence, It highlights the importance of urban conservation. The major impacts emerge out of study areExcessive population growth that exceeds the expected number. Change in urban characterstics of town including dilapidating built heritage, new construction over existing historic fabric or destroying it. Unregulated alteration or additions to old fabric for reuse leads to more congestion in urban fabric. Construction of multistorey structure leads to disturb the existing skyline of town Deviation from proposed landuse and older landuse. Excessive pressure on other physical infrastructure including water system, waste management, transportation parking traffic congestion and pedesterian movement etc. Beyond these physical impacts, Religious tourism also exert impacts on socio- cultural attribute of place. Positively on one hand, It plays important role in establishing and popularizing cultural identity of place. This further act as catalyst in increasing tourist inflow in town and so on. But on other end, It will exert some negative impacts on social and cultural structure of town. Like, Young boys and girls now imitate the dressing, style of conversation, fashion etc. of the tourists. Most of the restaurants serve foreign food due to large demand of tourists. Some people also engaged in the business of marijuana and other ecstasy drugs, paid sex were also noticed in tourist town.This is mainly because of invasion of foreign cultures regularly throughout the time and hence result into evolution of new mixed culture that will be more global, secular and indifference able.
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