Revitalising Trimbakeshwar as a Temple Town

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN Design Dissertation

by Ar. Shruti Sawant

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Introduction: Historic temple towns form a unique urban pattern that combines the instrumental and symbolic characteristics of space in a single spatial type. A community with a closely knitted culture and tradition constitutes the identity of any settlement. The rituals and customs are believed to be the results of myths, facts or historical background of that temple town.

In this research, the function and structure of a temple town is studied on the basis of its origin, evolution, organization and utilization of spaces and all the activities happening there all around the year. It will further progress to the study of infrastructure required for tourists and especially for pilgrims coming to visit the temple town. Finally all the collected data will be used to analyse the temple town Trimbakeshwar and explore its development from the period the temple was built by Peshwa Nanasaheb to this date. The research is based on the assumption that, in this period a heritage town has to be conserved and preserved whilst making sure it is well equipped for the requirements of the modern population. Yet another aspect to this study is that many researchers look at these temple towns as a tourist spot only, completely ignoring the fact that the location caters to local residents as well, who also require better services in this rapidly developing era. It’s observed that the temple plays a major role in religious, cultural, economic developments of the town.

Temple towns can be classified as single centered or multi-centred based on the religious structures in it and they tend to have a set of strong religious and heritage characters that bound the town and propagate its growth. The genotype of Hindu sacred space inscribed on the urban form of the settlement lends a distinct spatial identity to the temple towns. Trimbakeshwar also has its own set of identities that have been actualized over time, owing to its religious asceticism. The Urban Development Department of Maharashtra has designed many proposals for the development of similar temple towns, but one can notice one common thing lacking from all the proposals or layouts, that is the consideration that these temple towns function differently than any other normal or tourist town. This study aims at exploring the differences between the afore mentioned types of towns and thus the different aspects and elements one must take into consideration for Revitalising Trimbakeshwar, not just as any other regular town but as a temple town.

Hence, the following research focuses upon creating a town that suffices the requirements of tourists as well as the local residents by either creating new structures or interventions in the existing spaces.

The space or intervention should be designed in such a way that they can cater to the maximum population visiting the town buts isn’t left neglected and unused when there are barely any visitors.

Also all the interventions have to be acceptable within the framework of the religious texts and traditions, while not disturbing the character and fabric of the town.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Introduction of the town: Trimbakeshwar (or Tryambakeshwar) is an ancient Hindu temple in the town of Trimbak, in the Trimbakeshwar tehsil in the Nashik District of Maharashtra, India, 28 km from the city of Nashik and 40 km from nashik road. It is dedicated to the Hindu god Shiv and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, where the Hindu genealogy registers at Trimbakeshwar are kept. The origin of the sacred Godavari River is near Trimbak, located on the top of a hill which is about 15-20 minutes away from the town.

Attractions in Trimbakeshwar: 

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Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga Temple: Unique among all the Shiva temple and Jyotirlingas in its appearance, the temple has a hole in place of Lingam inside which three 'pindis' (stone representing Gods) could be seen, one for each of the Holy Trinity- Creator Brahma, Operator Vishnu and Destroyer Shiva. Carved in black stone, temple unconsciously inspires devotion.

Kushavarta: The place is among some of the picturesque regions near Nashik decorated with greenery on mountains due to river. The temple of Kedareshwar is another interest that people come for while in Trimbak. The nearby destinations of Kanchan and Kanakhala Tirth are believed to be making the bones of the dead disappear.

Gorakhnath Gufa: The place is believed to be the one where Guru Gorakhnath meditates for Ganges to appear. If other versions of the stories are to be believed, Rishi Gautama was the person to meditate tough, enough to please Lord Shiva. The Shrine to Goddess Ganga is located here itself, in Brahmagiri Hills.

NEED REALIZATION: Trimbakeshwar like many other temple towns has some amount of land converted in to various small and big amenities for pilgrims. During special festivals a huge part of the population is involved in providing activities for the visiting pilgrims. One can notice various street vendors selling items varying from toys and bags to all kinds of flowers, snacks, knick-knacks, etc.

The town has developed parts especially for pilgrims and locals. But they are not distinct zones separate from each other, instead one whole integrated entity. Hence, both the users are affected by the other in some way or the other. Sometimes they interdepend on each other while the other times they are nothing more than a nuisance to the other.

Trimbakeshwar with not more than a population of 7000 to 8000 has thousands of pilgrims visiting at a time. The government has done many attempts to improve the facilities but a few more urban and architectural interventions can help improve the quality of lives of locals as well as the experience of the pilgrims.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

AIM: The aim of my research is to understand and analyse the elements of temple town and its infrastructural requirements for both the tourists as well as the locals and prepare generis guide lines for intervention of its revitalization.

OBJECTIVES:     

To study the relation between human, religion and society at a primary level.

To understand the relation between a temple and town in function Identify various issues and problems that can be resolved by infrastructure and architecture.

Identify remedial measures in terms of planning policy with reference to the problems identified earlier.

To develop generic guidelines for the development of town and temple study of all functions.

SCOPE: The scope of this study is the physical boundary of the whole town. The research will focus on the issues that can be resolved by architectural interventions. The town is surrounded by hills and mountains on all its sides. Some part of the hills and mountains are a part of the scope of research but only up to the boundaries where some residential structures exist. All the roads, open grounds, private and government vacant land (not a part of NDZ), common spaces, water bodies will be a major part of the town which will be the scope of this study.

LIMITATION: The limitations of the following research are as follows:     

It does not include the temple complex.

It involves only architectural interventions.

It does not include the part of the hills and mountains beyond current human habitation.

It does not include religiously significant structures viz. smaller temples, ashrams, etc.

The study will avoid all heritage buildings.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

RESEARCH DESIGN: Trimbakeshwar is a popular temple town famous for many other rituals other than just the Jyotirlinga temple. The town houses about 6000 tenants and hosts around a million visitors each year. The village has now become a full-fledged town but in doing so it has gone through various transformations.

Trimbakeshwar is just a regular town for the local tenants, a tourist spot for the visitors and a temple town for the pilgrims, hence it reflects characteristic of all the three types of towns. These users visit the town expecting certain experiences or live in the town expecting certain amenities.

Hence, the research intends to study the urbanization of Trimbakeshwar as town popular for the temple in terms of its urban pattern, layout, amenities and its function w.r.t. or in coordination with the special elements in it, viz. the religious tourism spots and the temple.

The following are the parts in which Trimbakeshwar will be analysed to propose suitable architectural interventions:

1. IMAGEABILTYOF A TEMPLE TOWN: A city is considered to be a powerful symbol representing the society that lives in it. An environmental image is considered to have three components: identity (the recognition of urban elements as individual entities), structure (the interrelation of urban elements to its surroundings objects and to the observer), and meaning (its practical and emotional attachment to the observer).

OBJECTIVE:  Study and analyse the elements of a town that affect the imageability of a town (like paths, edges, districts, odes, landmarks, etc.).

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:  How imageability improves the quality of life of the local tenants and the quality of trip of the visitor?  What are the factors that are responsible to benefit or deficit the imageability of a city?  What is different about the imageability of a temple town?

2. INFRASTRUCTURE OF A TEMPLE TOWN: Religious tourism is generally understood as a specific type of tourism driven by religious reasons and often associated with holidaymaking. Small religious towns in India are in a desperate need for better infrastructure which can boost the local economy and help improve the quality of life. While many big cities have made progress in recent years, the small towns

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

of India continue to lag behind. When a place is common ground for locals and tourists the type of infrastructure required varies.

OBJECTIVE:  Study, observe and analyse the behaviour of locals and tourists in a tourist spot.  Study the amenities required for various spaces in a tourist spot  Study infrastructure that improves the quality of life of both locals and tourists.

3. PILGRIMAGE AND RELIGIOUS TOURISM: Every tourist spot surrounding is filled with small big tourism based entrepreneurs. These buyers and sellers develop a layout by themselves or enforced on them by the authority responsible. On the other hand according to the ancient Sanskrit Texts, any temple should be built near water and gardens so as to provide a peaceful and appealing surrounding area.

These harmonious places were recommended in these texts as it was believed to be an ideal place to pray to Gods and help human connect to divine. This would help them to connect themselves to spiritual knowledge and truth in order to eventually attain liberation (moksha).

Study of qualitative aspects of historical evolution of the case studies of temple towns and combine them with the analysis of present urban image surveys to arrive at their urban characteristics and transformations.

OBJECTIVE:  Study and analyse the function of a temple town and how a temple in any precinct affects the surrounding area: socially, culturally and economically?  Study of tourists and pilgrimage destinations with respect to the difference in their functioning and service requirements?

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:  What is the difference between a tourist spot and a pilgrimage spot?  Analysis of the following factors with respect to a temple town: o Existing culture o Built non built forms o Urban grown pattern o Grain, texture and fabric seam of the town o Transport and accessibility o Congestion and Decongestion of the town o Activities (formal and informal) o Public spaces and Landmarks

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:              

What is the evolution of town/ temple in its historical order?

What are the events and rituals in the town?

How both the entities as in the locals and the tourists are functioning in complement to each other?

What are the problems faced by the locals due to the site and because of the tourists?

What are the problems regarding the site with respect to tourism and services catering to tourists?

What are the identifiable solutions for the potential problems and how they can be solved by developing architecture and infrastructure?

How can a space cater to both tourists and locals?

How to intervene on a site to improve its infrastructure while not harming the ecology of the place?

How can a street or precinct be more pedestrian friendly?

What is the role of an open or a public space in a temple town?

How can open public spaces be designed in a way that they can be functionally optimized?

What is the extent of Zone of intervention and justification for the town?

What are the festivals celebrated in the town?

How does the town transform during annual, monthly or weekly festivals? (Study of the transformations in terms of its extent on the site, its effects on the locals and tourists, the period for which they last)

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

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REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW RELIGION Relativism and Religion ............................... 11 Religious Diversity and Pluralism ............... 11 Theories on Religion .................................... 12 Theories on Sacred Places ............................ 12 Religious Diversity ....................................... 13 Religious Tourism ........................................ 13 INFERENCE ................................................ 15

TOURISM- RELIGIOUS OR OTHERWISE Tourism Urbanization ................................... 17 Sacred Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage ..................................................... 17 Contemporary tourist experience.................. 18 Socio Economic Impacts in Pilgrimage Tourism......................................................... 18 Tourism Activities ........................................ 19 INFERENCE ............................................... 20

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

LITERATURE REVIEW: RELIGION In the book ‘Relativism and Religion’ (pp. 35-51), the author Philip (Quinn, 1995) asserts that the world presents us with a rich diversity of systems of religious belief. These systems make what seem to be competing and incompatible claims to truth. At least some of the adherents of each system appear to be perfectly rational in having the religious beliefs they do. What are we to make of this situation? In an argument by Joseph Runzo, he outlined six possible responses to the conflicting truth-claims of the world’s religions.

Quinn states that:  Naturalism holds that all religions are mistaken.  Religious Subjectivism demands that every world religion is right in the sense that it is good for those who chose to follow it.  Religious Pluralism affirms that in a way, all world religions are correct, each presenting a different path to salvation and limited perspective on a single abstract reality.  Religious Relativism contends that one or more world religion is correct and that the accuracy or truth of a religion is relative to the world-view of its community of followers.

According to ‘Religious Diversity, Pluralism’ written and edited by David (Religious Diversity, Pluralism, 2004), religious diversity can be observed in a striking way between religions that are theistic and the ones that are not. For example, the monotheistic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam agree that there is only one sole God. Hinduism, in contradiction, recognizes multiple gods and goddesses. Apart from that, there are some varieties of Hinduism which consider many deities as aspects of a single God, possibly monotheistic. Other fibres of Hinduism are henotheistic, worshiping a single deity but recognizing the existence of many others. Another astonishing difference between religions has to do with the views of the human or the follower. Within many forms of Christianity and Islam, the eventual goal of one’s life is to attain subjective immortality in God’s presence. On the other hand within some forms of Eastern cultures thought, for example, Theravada Buddhism, an important goal is to understand that there is no essential self. However, widespread diversification also exists within basic theistic systems. For example, within Christianity or any other religion as a matter of fact, believers differ significantly on the nature of God and the form of a religion.

While it is still somewhat popular in philosophical circles today to focus on diversity among basic theistic systems, there is a growing awareness that the same basic questions (and responses) that apply to inter-system diversity (for example, to differing perspectives on the most accurate basic theistic conception of God) apply just as clearly, and in exactly the same sense, to intra-system diversity (for example, to differing perspectives within Christianity over the extent of God’s knowledge). And there is increasing awareness that the practical import of intra-theistic diversity is just as significant as is that of inter-theistic diversity. For most Christians, for instance, the practical significance of retaining or modifying beliefs about God’s power or knowledge is just as great as retaining or modifying the belief that Christianity is a better theistic explanatory hypothesis than is Islam. (Religious Diversity, Pluralism, 2004)

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

THEORIES ON RELIGION (Chattopadhyaya, 2006) SOCIAL SCIENTIST Tylor & Frazor

Sigmund Freud Emile Durkheim

Karl Marx

Mircea Eliade

Stewart Elliot Guthrie

EE Evans-Pritchard Clifford Geertz

THEORY Religion exists in order to help people make sense of events which would otherwise be incomprehensible by relying on unseen, hidden forces.

Religion is a mass neurosis and exists as a response to deep emotional conflicts and weaknesses.

Religion is a means of social organization. It is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden. His focus was on the importance of the concept of the “sacred” and its relevance to the welfare of the community.

Religion is an illusion whose chief purpose is to provide reasons and an excuse to keep society functioning as it is.

Religion is opium of the masses.

Eliade’s understanding rests on two concepts: the sacred and the profane. He focuses on timeless forms of ideas which keep recurring in religions all over the world; he ignores their specific historic contexts.

Religion is anthropomorphization gone awry. According to him religion is attribution of human characteristics to non-human things or events.

Religion has deep emotional roots Religion as culture and meaning. He treats religion as a vital component of cultural meanings. He argues that religion carries symbols which establish powerful moods or feelings.

THEORIES ON SACRED PLACES (Chattopadhyaya, 2006) SOCIAL SCIENTIST Eade and Sallnow

Eliade

Yi Fu Tuan

THEORY “The power of a miraculous shrine is seen to derive solely from its inherent capacity to exert a devotional magnetism over pilgrims from far and wide and to exude of itself potent meanings and significance for the worshippers --- its power is internally generated and its meanings are largely predetermined”. This traditional viewpoint holds that some places are inherently sacred and the act of pilgrimage bestows inherent benefits.

Designation of a site as sacred is generally a response to two types of events. Some events (which he calls hierophantic) involve a direct manifestation on earth of a deity, whereas in other (theophanic) events somebody receives a message from the deity and interprets it for others.

The true meaning of sacred goes beyond stereotype images of

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Bowman

temples and shrines because at the level of experience sacred phenomena are those that stand out from the commonplace and interrupt routine. He puts an emphasis on qualities such as apartness, other worldliness, orderliness and wholeness in defining what is sacred. Sacred places also share two important properties – they are not transferable (they are valued because of their associated holiness), and they do not need to be reestablished with each new generation (there Is an inherited appreciation of the holiness of the site).

Holds a post-modern view and is very different from the traditional view, because it argues that meanings are not inherent but are attributed by those who believe in the notion of sacred space. In the postmodern view, “pilgrimages are journeys to the sacred, but the sacred is not something which stands beyond the domain of the cultural; it is imagined, defined and articulated within cultural practice”. In this perspective, therefore, different people bring their own perceptions and meanings to the sacred place. As a result, sacred spaces have projected onto them a range of different meanings and interpretation, even amongst believers.

The article ‘The Oxford Handbook of Religious Diversity’ by Joseph (Pluralism and Relativism, 2010) discusses the history of religious pluralism and relativism, as well as responses to the problem of religious pluralism, religious exclusivism versus religious pluralism, pluralism and religion, religious pluralism as religious inclusivism, henotheism, and interreligious dialogue and ethics.

(Pluralism and Relativism, 2010). It states that an ever-increasing awareness of religious diversity inevitably raises religious and philosophical issues about pluralism and relativism in religion. Those already in a religious tradition can no longer ignore the religions of others, much less the variant strands of religious belief and practice within their own tradition. Likewise, the anti-religious can no longer facilely dismiss religious belief under one lump rubric. This article discusses the history of religious pluralism and relativism, as well as responses to the problem of religious pluralism, religious exclusivism versus religious pluralism, pluralism and religion, religious pluralism as religious inclusivism, henotheism, and interreligious dialogue and ethics.

Katri (Nieminen) in her thesis book about ‘Religious Tourism’ explains mass tourism as a large scale phenomenon, packaging and selling standardized leisure services at fixed prices to a mass clientele. On the other hand, Niche tourism seems to cater to more specifically defined groups where individuals are identified by the same specialized needs or interests for certain products. According to Cohen (Nieminen, 2012) religious tourists are the ones who come to observe, but who will also time to time take part in devotion. Pilgrims are the ones praying to god while tourists are the spectators who choose to remain uninvolved in the sacredness of the place. The author categorizes these travels in three types based on the reason behind their travel, viz.; Pilgrimages, Volunteer or Missionary Travel or Religious event and fellowship travel.

A documentary by History channel states that hinduism embraces many religious ideas. For this reason, it’s sometimes referred to as a “way of life” or a “family of religions,” as opposed to a single, organized religion. Hindus believe in the doctrines of samsara (the continuous cycle of life, death, and reincarnation) and karma (the universal law of cause and effect). One of the key thoughts of Hinduism is “atman,” or the belief in soul. This philosophy holds that living creatures have a soul,

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

and they’re all part of the supreme soul. The goal is to achieve “moksha,” or salvation, which ends the cycle of rebirths to become part of the absolute soul. Hindus strive to achieve dharma, which is a code of living that emphasizes good conduct and morality. Hindus value many sacred writings as opposed to one holy book.

The primary texts, known as the Vedas, were composed around 1500 B.C. This collection of sacred verses and hymns was written in Sanskrit and contains revelations received by ancient saints and sages. Most scholars believe Hinduism formally started somewhere between 2300 B.C. and 1500 B.C. in the Indus Valley, near modern-day Pakistan. But many Hindus argue that their faith is timeless and has always existed.  

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Hindu worship, which is known as “puja,” typically takes place in the Mandir (temple).

Followers of Hinduism can visit the Mandir any time they please.

Hindus can also worship at home, and many have a special shrine dedicated to certain gods and goddesses. The giving of offerings is an important part of Hindu worship. It’s a common practice to present gifts, such as flowers or oils, to a god or goddess.

Additionally, many Hindus take pilgrimages to temples and other sacred sites in India.

Hinduism has many sects, and is sometimes divided into the following:    

Shaiva (followers of Shiva) Vaishnava (followers of Vishnu) Shakta (followers of Devi) Smarta (followers of Brahman and all major deities) Some Hindus elevate the Hindu trinity, which consists of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Others believe that all the deities are a manifestation of one.

Sources: History of Hinduism, BBC. Hinduism Fast Facts, CNN. What are the Basic Beliefs of Hinduism, Smithsonian Institution.

Hinduism: The World’s Third Largest Religion, Religioustolerance.org.

Samsara: Hinduism, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

INFERENCE: Religion can be expressed as the belief in or worship of a supernatural being controlling or having power of a particular system of faith and worship. In the earlier days when people were unaware of human life beyond their own region, they believed that their beliefs and traditions were the universal ones. When they started interacting, they realized that different religions and faith structures existed.

In the beginning these people found it difficult to accept these other diverse religions, but soon enough they begin to compromise on the fact that their god isn’t the only supernatural power that created and ran the world. Although initially many people were reluctant to accept the existence of other religions, the globalization, mass media and various other factors compelled many people to accept religious pluralism. Pluralism was followed by various other theories and concepts like naturalism, inclusivism, exclusivism, etc.

Based on all these theories one may say these religions exist as an explanation for what man has been incapable of understanding, as a psychological reaction to our surroundings and lives, as an expression of social needs, as a focus upon supernatural and sacred aspects of our lives and as an evolutionary strategy for survival. Also events and popular myths tend to strengthen the sacred or religious image of a place. We are the part of a society where religious tourism, spiritual tourism, pilgrimage tourism, cultural tourism and cultural heritage tourism are considered as synonyms as in most cases all of afore mentioned tourists can be noticed visiting pilgrimages a part of their travel and thus can be commonly called as pilgrims. It is also recognized as the oldest form of tourism.

Some of the probable reasons that attract a pilgrim to a religious place include:     

To perform pilgrimage as an act of worship and show devotion and faith towards their deity To express gratitude or confess sin or perform a vow or a ritual.

To achieve spiritual salvation.

To commemorate and celebrate certain religious events.

To be in communication with co-religionists.

Other than the reasons mentioned above, people visit religious places for picnics or as plans for the holidays. These places offer cheap accommodation and an entertainment for the kids. So people take their families put on vacations to religious places making it easy for their pockets, satisfying for their souls, delighting for the elderly and fun for the kids. Hence all these visitors from different age groups and parts of the country make the area around the temple an ideal place for small business establishments. But this kind of a trip is different from just visiting a temple, mosque or a church which are more of a cultural trip rather than a religious one. Also visiting a sacred place for sightseeing or for work is not religious trip. For a trip to be a religious one it has to have a religious motive, which is believed to strengthen the pilgrim’s belief or faith in God.

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LITERATURE REVIEW: TOURISM- RELIGIOUS OR OTHERWISE Patrick (Tourism Urbanization, 1991), an Australian professor of Anthropology and Sociology published a research paper on ‘Tourism Urbanisation’ in which states that tourist cities represent a new and extraordinary form of urbanization because they are cities built solely for consumption. This consumption is for fun, pleasure, relaxation, recreation etc., and is not a consumption of basic needs like housing, health care, education and so on like in other western cities. He refers to the tourism as an odd industry because rather than being a single industry, it is an amalgamation of industries (manufacturing, transport, entertainment etc.) and very unconventionally, it is defined by consumption, rather than production. Goods and services are classified as 'tourist' if they are consumed by tourists, but if they are consumed by residents they are considered part of 'normal' consumption.

His analysis of urbanization in these places is rooted in the discourse of postmodernity, postmodern city, consumption and commoditization of leisure and services necessary in tourism. His equating of tourism with post-modernism and exhibition of hedonistic pursuits leads to characterization of tourism urbanization as something that is: (1) spatially different because it is socially different; (2) symbolically distinctive, with the urban symbols acting as lures to tourists; (3) distinguished by rapid population and labour force growth; (4) distinguished by a flexible system of production; (5) distinguished by a form of state intervention which is ‘booster &’ in style like the postmodern city generally; (6) distinguished by both a mass and customized consumption of pleasure; (7) distinguished by a resident population which is socially distinctive, because this urbanization is socially different. (Mullins, 1991, p. 331) In the book, ‘Sacred Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage’ (Morinis, 1992), the author defines pilgrimage in general as a journey undertaken by a person in quest for a place or a state that he or she believes to embody a valued ideal. This definition may be applied to all kinds of pilgrimage. The destination at the end of all pilgrimages shares the characteristic of being an intensified version of some ideal that the pilgrim values but cannot achieve at home.

Europe's religious tourism system is described by (Mary Lee Nolan, 1992) in ‘Religious Sites as Tourism Attractions in Europe’ with emphasis on the fulfilment of the expectations of visitors ranging from devout pilgrims to secular tourists at three types of attractions. These are pilgrimage shrines with strong emphasis on religious devotions, but with few characteristics to attract secular tourists; shrines that function as devotional centers and religious tourism attractions because of various combinations of historical, artistic, and scenic site characteristics; and places where religious festivals are the principal attractions. Problems related to conflicting interests of pilgrims and tourists are discussed along with some examples of management strategies designed to minimize these conflicts.

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(Clift and Clift, 1996) present a broader notion of pilgrimage in ‘The Archetype of Pilgrimage’.

According to them, pilgrimage is a journey, a ritual, a commemoration, a search for something, perhaps something the pilgrim cannot express in words; perhaps even some-thing the pilgrim does not fully perceive.

According to (Gareth Shaw, Allan M Williams, 2004) in their book, ‘Tourism and Tourist spaces’, tourist journeys become not only a commercial commodity and a dynamic element of consumption, but also a cultural icon and a constituent part of cultural capital, the importance of which is continuously increasing. They state that the increasing Tourism and recreation are accompanied by changes in the form, distribution and relation of the tourist place’s relationship to other land uses.

These evolutions are shaped by five distinctive sectorial characteristics: 1. Temporary variations in the use and intensity of use of the space 2. Activities vary according to the space, ranging from the ones contained at a particular region to the ones that are spatially extensive.

3. Non-exclusive land uses outside and around the tourist spaces.

4. Individual land owners cannot impose exclusive rights for land use due to the omnipresence of public goods.

5. The land uses are induced by the obscurely portrayed nature of the tourism and recreational activities (Richard Sharpley) in his article ‘Contemporary tourist experience: Concepts and Consequences’ states that ‘valuistic journeys’ today lifestyle and values. Within globalised space, which is particularly open to change, the desire to search for unalterable have become an expression of the identity of an individual, as well as an indicator of that individual's landmarks or to reinforce value systems is increasingly growing. And it is valuistic journeys which help to realise this desire.

(Vijayanand, 2012) in his book ‘Socio-Economic Impacts in Pilgrimage Tourism’ expresses that, pilgrimage, whether religious or secular, is experiencing resurgence around the world. This includes the motives for pilgrimage, activities during the pilgrimage, and the influence of tourism on it. The findings show that the visitor population ranged widely from very religious orthodox pilgrims, through "traditional" pilgrim-tourists to secular tourists. The features of present-day pilgrims can be represented on a scale that may be described as secular versus spiritual, and tourism versus pilgrimage. This typology also offers a model for the development of the pilgrimage sites.

The findings highlight the increasing convergence of old-fashioned pilgrimage and current tourism, which have much in common. Additionally, this research emphasizes the expanding nexus of holy sites, society, politics, ideology, and culture. This article explains and supports the idea that the economic impacts of religious tourism should not be neglected or underestimated, although religious institutions have traditionally attempted to downplay this in the past.

The paper also argues that religion and tourism have much in common. In the modern world it is hard to ignore the impression that in most places of pilgrimage the profane impacts of tourism are

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just as important if not more so than the religious. This paper lends theoretical support to this argument.

Tourism is like a migration of a very short term which requires only the following needs of the pilgrim to be satisfied:  Basic physiological needs like food, water and shelter  Safety needs like freedom from threat, attack and anxiety  Belonging and social needs like giving, affection, love and friendship  Esteem and self-actualization needs Pilgrims may be motivated to go on a pilgrimage due:  Spiritual  Gratitude  Anxiety or fear of death  Consequences of death  Admiration of architectural wonders  Search of inner-self or inner peace.  Educational interest in the history of the site  Motive to observe and search understanding of other cultures  Curiosity  Desire for authentic experience

NICHE TOURISM

Special interests, culture and/or acivities based tourism involving small number of tourists in authentic settings

MASS TOURISM

Conventional tpurism involving large number of tourists in staged settings

TOURISM ACTIVITIES (Novelli, 2007)

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Macro-niches (Novelli, 2007)

CULTURAL Heritage Tribal Religious

ENVIRONMENTAL Nature and Wildlife Ecotourism Adventure

Educational Genealogy

Alpine Ecotourism

Research

Coastal

RURAL Farms/ Barns Camping Wine/ Gastranomy Sport Festivals and Events Arts and Crafts

URBAN Business Conference Exhibition

OTHERS Photographic Small Curve Volunteer

Sport Gallery

Dark Youth

Art

Transport

INFERENCE: Many studies have indicated that every space or region has a reason behind the tourism. Hence with respect to my topic, the intent behind tourism or pilgrimage is the popularity and the myths about the deity of the temple town. The more the stories and myths, the more is the extent and magnitude of tourism of the town. But with the modernization of society and the mentality of the people, the reasons behind travel include many more factors. These factors can be stated as travel time, holidays, faith and beliefs, location or any other special reasons where people prioritise these factors differently.

The land use of the surroundings is based on what the approaching people deem to be efficient at the time of their commercial establishment. Being religious place with a lot of spirituality and sentiments are attached to it, makes it difficult for any government organization to propose any fixed rules. Also owing to the changing demands of the visitors, many activities or Mullin’s study is devoted to examining social forces in urbanization, but it is the findings pertaining to the urban form that are more relevant for the subject of the present paper, like the land abutting the tourist attraction or in this case the temple. He plains the tourism as an industry that is ever changing and ever evolving; one cannot tag a tourist place or can say that all tourist spaces for a particular event or tradition are the same.

Basically, he explains that the way in which a temple town works on the basis of socio-economic and functional factors is completely different than any other regular town. Hence the intervention for a temple town is very different and requires a lot more flexibility.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

LITERATURE REVIEW: IMAGIBILTY AND URBANIZATION Kevin (Lynch, 1960), an American Urban Planner and author wrote in his Book ‘The Image of the City’ argues that the city itself is a powerful symbol of a complex society and that people in urban locale orient themselves by means of mental maps. A central notion in this book is about legibility (also called imageability and visibility). Legibility can be defined as the extent to which the cityscape can be ‘read’ or ‘understood’. People who move through the city get engaged in way-finding. They should be able to recognize and organize urban elements into a coherent pattern. “In the process of way-finding, the strategic link for anyone is the environmental image, the generalized mental picture of the exterior physical world that is held by an individual in their mind. This image is the product of both immediate sensation and the memory of any past experience, and it is used to interpret information and guide action” (p.4).

In the play ‘No Exit’ by Jean-Paul Sartre quotes, ‘The modern metropolis, adopts a geometricmechanical paradigm of balance for maximum efficiency. But meanwhile, it confines and stream lines the human beings residing within. But in its process of guaranteeing any individuals survival, it gradually strips them off their authenticity while limiting them into mechanical patterns.’ (Sartre, 1967) Project for Public Spaces Invalid source specified. is a non-profit planning, design, and educational organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build better communities and escalate quality of life as well as the space. They state that a successful public space should be mainly, accessible, comfortable, well managed, have a good image, should engage the people approaching it and should be sociable. Another characteristic of that space should be that although it’s a place to meet or exchange, they should make people stay in that space even when they don’t have any pressing reason to stay also called as the ‘lingering factor’.

Great public spaces also serve as the heart of any community, often connecting two or more separate neighborhoods together. They build a central point where people can interact and participate in the public realm. Another important element of great public spaces is their ability to highlight an area’s cultural identity – (which is sometimes overlooked) whether through local practices, design, history, architecture, art, etc. This becomes a crucial factor for creating a sense of place that can withstand the test of time.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Figure 1 - Place Diagram by PPS

The image above is a place diagram created by the PPS team based on their study of various parks, gardens, playgrounds, waterfronts, markets and common public spaces of New York.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore have proposed multiple small and big ways to create or enhance the existing public space in order to optimize their parks, gardens and other common areas. This long-term planning involves broad strategies, identification of land for various needs, and establishing Singapore’s overall development. These strategies in turn lead into planning for the necessary infrastructure and resources to support the proposed land use. (URA, 2016) Their proposal for the public spaces states that public spaces have significant effects on the society’s overall well-being. Parks, open plazas and shaded atriums, or the streets that people use every day, public space provides one relief from the dense urban environment by promoting life outside of buildings. They also provide the opportunity to foster social connections with fellow city residents and bring economic benefits by drawing more customers towards nearby smaller local businesses, but also by making the city more attractive to live, work and play in.

The image below depicts the five factors the URA holds responsible for enhancing the quality of public spaces and thus creating a liveable city.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Figure 2 – Singapore’s Model of Planning Public Places

1. People and Programming Successful public spaces are expected to be well used and loved by many people. A good design enhances the appeal of a place and actively draws in new and repeat users by giving people reasons to visit.

2. Lush Landscaping All plans to enhance public spaces include bringing nature into urban areas, and wherever possible - lush greenery and attractive water bodies should be integrated to create exceptional destinations.

3. Accessibility To increase and maintain usage, public spaces must be conveniently accessible by public transport. Accessing the place and roaming around should be easy in any weather, even for less mobile citizens. Another effective way to create people-friendly spaces is by creating car-free zones.

4. Comfort Public spaces need to be safe and comfortable enough for people to linger which often means having ample shade, sufficient seating, good lighting and universal design.

5. Excellence in design + Eye for Detail + Engaging Details that seem small or insignificant can become a big difference between an ordinary space and a remarkable one. By placing greater emphasis on design and details, one can make a public space more engaging for everyone.

6. Sense of delight + Sharing of Spaces Good public spaces are those that invoke a sense of delight. It could be a picturesque view, a humorous sculpture, a scene of a group of people enjoying themselves, or a boulevard of trees laden with blossoms.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

CASE STUDIES ANALYSIS FROM VISIT GRISHNESHWAR ....................................... 27 AUNDHA NAGNATH ................................ 39 PARLI VAIDYANATH ............................... 55

ANALYSIS FROM A PUBLISHED RESEARCH PAPER KUMBAKONAM ......................................... 67 SHIRDI ......................................................... 69

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GRISHNESHWAR CASE STUDY INTRODUCTION .................................................... 29 ABOUT THE VILLAGE ......................................... 30 ABOUT THE TEMPLE ........................................... 30 ZONES AROUND THE TEMPLE ......................... 31 SERVICES AND AMENITIES ............................... 35 PRIMARY HEALTH CENTER .................. 35 SCHOOLS .................................................... 35 COLLEGES .................................................. 36 OTHERS ....................................................... 36 INFERENCES........................................................... 37

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

INTRODUCTION: Verul is a town in Aurangabad district in Marathwada region of Maharashtra. The town is famous for the Ellora caves which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also popular for the Grishneshwar temple which is home to one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shiva and thus a very significant pilgrimage centre.

Figure 3 - Verul map with boundaries

Verul is a huge village and study of the whole village is not relevant to this research. Hence, for this case study we will studying the part of the village which is in 1km radius of the temple premises, which is demarcated in the image below:

Figure 4 - Part of Verul near the Grishneshwar Temple Complex

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

ABOUT THE VILLAGE:    

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Verul is mainly an agricultural village with total 1456 families residing in it.

The village has a population of 6978, covering an area of 2517 hectares as per Population Census 2011.

The village is fairly equipped with all basic government amenities like post office, ZP School, Hospitals, clinics, etc.

Although there are many Government buses that go to and from the city, they all follow one single route i.e. the main road. The inner parts of the village can be accessed only by either auto rickshaws or private transport.

The villages are basically employed in one of the four sectors; agriculture (75%), service (15%), tourism and temple (10%). The agricultural sector mainly produces cotton and soybean.

ABOUT THE TEMPLE:

Figure 5 – Grishneshwar temple surroundings

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The Grishneshwar temple has many stories associated to it, regarding how the shivalinga appeared and which god brought it.

The last of all the stories is about the very devout Shiva devotee, Bhosale (The Patel or chief of Verul). He once found a treasure hidden in the snake pit (ant hill) near the temple. He spent that money to renovate the temple and built a lake in Shikharshinganapur.

Later on, Gautamibal (Bayajabai) and Ahilyadevi Holkar renovated the 240ft x 185 ft temple, which is still there strong and beautiful as ever.

Dashavataras are carved in red stone, halfway up the temple and are adored by the visitors.

The court hall of the temple is built on 24 pillars with wonderful carvings. The scenes and paintings are beautiful. The Garbhagriha measures 17ft x 17 ft. The Lingamurty faces eastward. There is a gorgeous Nandikeshwara in the court hall.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

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The visit concluded that this temple has one of the smallest premises. Although the temple itself is as big as many of the other jyotirlingas, but the tourism amenities’ sprawl is much less as compared to that of the others.

As village is not immediately adjoining the temple and most of the village population is involved in agriculture, there are very few tourist related amenities in that area. Another reason is also the fact that no mobile phones or cameras are banned inside the temple, so there are no locker providers like those in many other temple premises.

Figure 6 – Grishneshwar Temple Complex

This part of the village is isolated from the rest of Verul, thus there are no everyday amenities available in that area like grocery store or medical, etc. Also there are no residential structures around the temple. All one can find there are amenities for tourists as if that was a proper fullfledged temple and only temple complex and not a temple town. The elements for pilgrims around the temple complex include:  Shops and stalls selling flowers and other religious paraphernalia  Food stalls  Small restaurants  A parking space  Public toilets  Government Guest house- ‘Dharmashaala’  Private Guest Houses

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Figure 7 – Road leading to the Grishneshwar temple (Restricted to pedestrian movement only leading from the parking space to the main entry)

Figure 8 – Stalls around the Grishneshwar temple (Adjoining road leading to the outer queuing area surrounded by stalls)

The village is not a huge organically spread out community but a group of clusters scattered amidst of forest and farms. These clusters are small villages that are barely interdependent on each other.

Grishneshwar basically being an agricultural town, most of the people have their houses and huts built near their lands. In the smaller parts that are in the corner there are barely any shops for grocery, etc. These villagers travel to the main taluka area for buying supplies in bulk for the fortnight or the month. Other amenities like post office, banks, etc are also in the taluka area only. A few people work in the temple premises or in the tourism sector but these people mostly live maximum 4km from their workplace.

Figure 9 Street view of the Taluka

Figure 10 – Street view of a mixed use cluster away from the Taluka

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

SERVICES AND AMENITIES: The village has most of the amenities but not of the best quality. There are small schools and one ITI college inside the village. In an interview with the local bureaucrat, he said that most of the population is illiterate. The few literate people are employed in banks, schools, etc. The head doctors working in the primary care unit are not from the village and the rest of the staff include mostly interns from the Medical colleges in Aurangabad. They have no special equipment but the bare minimum first aid required in case of an emergency. Health care center provide regular facilities like the maternity ward and medical check-ups. The amenities are shown below with a radius of 200m area around it.

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE CENTER

Figure 11 – Map for Medical center in Verul (Ellora)

Figure 12 - Medical center in Verul

The Primary Health-care center in Verul is located about 200m from the edge of the Taluka cluster.

It has a clinic with waiting area, a few rooms forming the maternity ward and a small Operation Theatre for emergency procedures.

SCHOOLS

Figure 13 – Map for Schools in Verul (Ellora)

The closest cluster of Verul is its taluka area which has three schools. The one at the top (towards North) is Jain English School, the one on the right (towards east) is the G.S.V.M. School and the one on the left (towards west) is Zilla Parishad School.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

COLLEGE

Figure 14 – Map for the College in Verul (Ellora)

Verul has only one college which is an ITI i.e. Indutrial Training Institute. It is a diploma level course with a 2 year training for working in Industrial units and shop floor of companies.

OTHER AMENITIES FROM THE TALUKA AREA

Figure 15 – Post Office, Verul

Figure 16 – Shops, Verul

Figure 17 – SBI Bank, Verul Branch

Figure 18 - Parking Space for Offices, Verul

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

INFERENCE: IMAGEABILTY OF THE VILLAGE 

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Verul is a village formed from smaller clusters. Most of the clusters are of farmers living close by their lands but some are due to tourism and pilgrimage. For eg. the ellora cave are about 1.5 km from the hub of the village and Grishneshwar is about 0.5 km.

The ellora caves are the tourism cluster, the Grishneshwar temple premises is the pilgrimage cluster, the taluka area or the hub of the village is mainly mixed use while the rest are residential clusters amidst forest and farmlands.

Each cluster has its own specific form or type or urban layout which is very different from the other type of cluster. Each cluster has been urbanizing on its own with very less or no reference to the adjoining clusters.

INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE PILGRIMAGE SPOT 

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The pilgrimage cluster is filled with only the elements and amenities required for pilgrims and pilgrims only. This area has no essence of the life of the local inhabitants of Verul but only that of a typical isolated pilgrim destination.

The area having no other cluster, built structures or any sort of restrictions around it has maximum scope for expanding and contracting depending on the number of visiting pilgrims.

That is there are no defined numbers of parking spots or stalls in that area.

The villagers are free to come and set up smaller stalls in the open spaces when they want and are not liable to maintain the same. Hence, there are more stalls during special festival seasons while even the existing stalls are closed down during off seasons.

The government maintains only the public toilets and Bhakt Niwas. All the other services, private guest houses and shops are private operated making it easier for the government to operate the area with minimum interference in the everyday functioning of the place.

But the site layout is very different from Trimbakeshwar hence although there are no direct applications of Grishneshwar’s Case Study for this thesis topic, there are many conclusions above that help understand the functioning of a temple premises.

It also gives one an idea of how Trimbakeshwar could possibly be like if the town wouldn’t have formed around the temple.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

AUNDHA NAGNATH CASE STUDY INTRODUCTION .................................................... 41 ABOUT THE VILLAGE ......................................... 42 ABOUT THE TEMPLE ........................................... 42 ZONES OF THE VILLAGE ................................... 43 STREETS .................................................................. 47 SERVICES AND AMENITIES ............................... 48 HOSPITAL ................................................... 48 SCHOOLS .................................................... 49 COLLEGES .................................................. 49 MARKETS ................................................... 50 INFERENCES........................................................... 53

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INTRODUCTION:

Figure 19 – Map of Aundha

Aundha Nagnath is a temple town, a tehsil in Basmat Subdivision of Hingoli district in Marathwada region of Maharashtra. The town is popular for the Aundha Nagnath temple which is home to one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shiva and thus a very significant pilgrimage centre. The temple covers an area of about 60,000 sq.ft. area and is constructed in the Hemadpanthi style of Architecture. Is a small village surrounded by farms and barren lands on all sides.

Figure 20 - Aundha Nagnath Temple Complex

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

ABOUT THE VILLAGE:   

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Aundha Nagnath is mainly an agricultural village with total 2744 families residing in it.

The village has population of 14801 of which 7515 are males while 7286 are females as per Population Census 2011.

Out of the total population, 5201 were engaged in work activities. 78.08 % of workers describe their work as Main Work (Employment or Earning more than 6 Months) while 21.92 % were involved in Marginal activity providing livelihood for less than 6 months.

Of 5201 workers engaged in Main Work, 785 were cultivators (owner or co-owner) while 1092 were Agricultural labourers.

ABOUT THE TEMPLE:  

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Aundha Nagnath Temple is the eighth of the twelve Jyotirlingas in India and thus a very important pilgrimage center. It covers an area of 669.60 sq.m. and is around 18.29m high.

Although the structure seen now was built in the 13th century, it is said that the first temle there was constructed by Yudhishthir, eldest of Pandavas. It’s been stated in the old texts in the temple that the old temple was a seven storeyed building before it was sacked by Aurangzeb.

The Sanctum Sanctorum is a narrow chamber which is located below ground level and is accessed by two high steps.

Figure 21 – Major Zones of the village

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Figure 22 – Local residential areas of Aundha

As seen in the image above, Aundha is a simple agricultural village. The area around the temple is slightly different than the rest of the village. The two images above are pictures of streets in the village. Both the streets show small residences of the middle class families, 6m to 8m wide roads with open drains on one side and loads of trees around. There are very less similarities in these streets and the ones around the temple complex of Aundha Nagnath. The roads around the temple have multiple shops and stalls selling toys, bags, snacks and a few religious items while the village barely has any shops. The village has mostly ground floor residences either exposed brickwork or painted or covered with metal/asbestos corrugated sheets. The only few shops in the village are small grocery shops or stalls selling fresh vegetables. The shops are located in the market across which there is a shed built for weekly bazaars.

In an interview of the members of the temple trust conducted during the visit, they mentioned that everything except the temple is under the jurisdiction and control of the government. They built an internal road with a covered pathway on one side and space for stalls on the other. Later a structure was built on the left side of the road with public toilets and accommodation facilities. The government is responsible for maintaining all of these spaces along with the queuing area inside the temple complex. The temple precinct has the village in the north and farmlands in its south. The Bus stand is on the east while the water body on the west of the temple was recently converted into a tourist spot for boating.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

SERVICES AND AMENITIES: The village is equipped with all the necessary services and amenities prescribed by the government.

It has a small hospital which majorly operates the maternity ward and the clinic. It also provides first aid care for those injured in an accident and a working operation theatre for those who might be in severe need of it. The southern part of the village has a much denser cluster and thus more services in the area. The northern part is more or less an extension to the village and hence is still under construction in case of commercialization. The part has a three scattered residential clusters with barely any shops. On the other hand the lower part of the town is a much denser cluster with shops, markets, etc. The before mentioned market is nothing but an open space with temporary stalls and hawkers. Thus, a new market area was built with permanent shops and a huge metal shed for holding daily fruits and vegetable markets. This market is located in the north-eastern corner of the site along a huge ground on a government owned land.

HOSPITALS

Figure 24 – Government Hospital, Aundha

Figure 23 – Map for the Hospitals and Clinics in Aundha

Figure 25 – Waiting Area, Govt.

Hospital, Aundha

The above map indicates the hospitals and clinics in Aundha with a radius of 250m. As observed in the map above, the northern part of Aundha has no Hospitals or Clinics while the southern part of the town if filled with them. The southern part of the town is the area adjoining the temple complex.

Although there are a few very small clinics in the northern area, but the residents have to travel about 0.5km to 1.25km to reach the nearest hospital. As the village is not overcrowded or trafficked this distance is very easy to cover in a few minutes.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

SCHOOLS

Figure 26 – Map for the Schools in Aundha

Figure 27 – Z.P. Primary School

Aundha has five schools which are located on the outer part of the village. The two schools in the north are Urdu schools while the one on the north-eastern corner of the site is Nutan Vidyalaya. The school at the south western corner is the ZP Primary School shown in figure 28. Aundha also an English School which is located in the southern part of the temple complex, which is the only school with school bus service. The rest of the school as are maximum 1.5k from any part of the village.

The circles in the map show the 500m radius covering area. According to a local residents, they believe it is the easily walk able area for an 8 to 10 year old studying in primary school. The village has only two colleges in Aundha, a senior college and a college of food technology.

COLLEGES

Figure 29 – Map for Colleges in Aundha

Figure 30 – M.I.P. College Aundha MIP COLLEGE, AUNDHA

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

MARKETS

Figure 31 – Map for markets in Aundha

There are manily twomarket in Aundha Nagnath. One on the southernmost part and the other in the south-western corner of the village. The one in the south is nothing but an open ground with hawkers and temporary stall lined on it. This market was previously help on the ground but it was converted into a concrete road a few years ago. While the new market was built in the north-eastern region of the village. This new market comprized of a shopping center with about 15-20 shops with an open ground in front of it. Also there is a metal shed built for seasonal vegetable markets as mentioned by the locals. The markets are closed down in the image due to heavy rainfall.

Figure 32 – Old market, Aundha

Figure 33 – New market, Aundha

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

RECREATION

Figure 34 – Map for Gardens in Trimbakeshwar

Figure 36 – Shree Nagnath Garden, Aundha

Figure 37 – Aundha Lake Garden

Figure 35

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

INFERENCE: IMAGEABILTY OF THE VILLAGE  

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Aundha is a huge agricultural town popular for the Nagnath temple, which is located in its southern end.

Due to the temple being at the edge of the village, the activities of the pilgrims and the villagers rarely mix. Thus, the temple complex and the village have urbanized and function independent of each other.

The village is well equipped with various amenities that are required for the local residents as well as the ones for the tourists.

As the functioning of the village is also not directly related or affected by the functioning of the temple, they are not dependent on each other.

INFRASTRUCTURE OF A PILGRIM SPOT 

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The villagers set up stalls around the temple whenever required; otherwise the temple has no local inhabitants. That is all the involvement of the locals in the functioning of the temple.

Apart from that the village remains unaffected to all the activities happening in the temple preemies.

There are about 10 to 12 Pandits working in the temple who live nearby in the village. They don’t have a hierarchical right for performing the rituals, so there are many pandits who have migrated to the town and started working in the temple.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

PARLI VAIDYANATH CASE STUDY INTRODUCTION .................................................... 57 ABOUT THE TOWN ............................................... 57 ABOUT THE TEMPLE ........................................... 58 ZONES OF THE TOWN ......................................... 60 STREETS .................................................................. 61 OLD TOWN vs NEW TOWN ................................. 62 SERVICES AND AMENITIES ............................... 63 HOSPITALS ................................................. 63 SCHOOLS .................................................... 63 COLLEGES .................................................. 63 MARKETS ................................................... 64 RECREATIONAL SPACES ........................ 64 INFERENCES........................................................... 65

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

INTRODUCTION: Parli is a temple town located in Beed district popular for the Vaijanath temple, housing one of the twelve Jyotirlingas. Later on it was developed and has been ever since known for the Thermal Power Station and other major industries such as the Vaijnath sugar factory, Coromandal cement factory and Ghawalkar engine, Transmission and motor repair and Overhaul factory. Parali is wellconnected to Beed, Parbhani and Ahmednagar by road. There are state transport buses easily available at the Parli bus depot travelling to all parts of Maharashtra. It also is a railway station on the South Central Railway.

Figure 38 – Parli Map

ABOUT THE TOWN:    

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It was initially an agricultural town spread over an area of 807.93 sq.km. famous for the temple. The town has a population of 1, 96,233 out of which 1, 27,913 people are literate.

According to the 2011 census, approximately 45% of the population are workers, 4% are marginal workers while 51% are non-workers.

The workers include cultivators, agricultural labourers, workers in household industry and other workers.

Thus most of the population was involved in agricultural activities, cultivating sugarcane and cotton while only 20-25% of the population was employed in tourist activities around the temple premises.

During festivals or times when the number of visitors or pilgrims escalates up, the local people professionally migrate to the temple perimeters, meaning that they set up small or big services and shops for the pilgrims.

But when the Thermal power station was commissioned it attracted many other industries to that area. This led to a major shift in the means of employment of the people in Beed district.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

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All the non-agricultural people working around the temple precinct got jobs in the newly established industries thus resulting in a major shift in the prime locations of the town.

Since this is a prominent pilgrimage centre, there are ample lodging facilities in the town and the Vaijanath Mandir Committee has their own Bhakta Niwas and Yatri Niwas where rooms are available at very affordable rates.

ABOUT THE TEMPLE:  The temple faces east and has two entry and exit doors on North and South respectively. So the pilgrim enters the complex from north and walks through multiple lines up to the north side of the temple. The eastern entrance door leads into a large teak wood hall which is adorned with beautiful carvings, Garbha Griha on the western face and a platform with the ‘Palkhi’ (special carriage for carrying the Deity’s idol around town for certain rituals)on it.  The temple complex has a spacious courtyard and a big corridor for circumambulation of the temple. While the exact date of the building of the temple is not known, experts feel that it belongs to the Yadava period that goes back to 12th or 13th century CE.  The aesthetical and architectural beauty of the temple is enhanced with some ponds around the temple which too have religious significance. One of them is Harihara Teerth, the water of which is poured over the Shivlinga every Monday. This place defines the assimilation of the Shaiva and Vaishnava sects.  The temple is located at a higher level than the road and thus had many wide steps leading up to the main gate. These steps have holes for adding temporary railings to create lanes with shelter for crowded days. These railings and shelter supports can be added and removed when required in about 2 hours.

Figure 39 – Zones of Temple surroundings

Figure 40 – Temple Complex, Parli

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Figure 41 –Main Entry, Parli Vaijanath

Figure 42 – Exit, Parli Vaijanath

Figure 43 – Tourism based amenities (L.H.S), Parli Vaijanath

Figure 44 - Tourism based amenities (R.H.S), Parli Vaijanath

According to the locals, the area had no Bhakti Niwas (Above left) and thus there were no proper shops that can be seen. Instead it was an open space with multiple stalls and street side vendors. The temple complex later funded the building of a Bhakti Niwas i.e. a cheap local accommodation for the pilgrims. The ground floor space of the structure facing the access area has about 5 shops selling toys, bags, hats, etc for the pilgrims.

The element that has been thoroughly worked out is the queuing area. The internal as well as the external queuing spaces have been created using hollow pipe railings. The temple being on a higher level than the access road there are many wide steps in front of the temple. These steps have been utilized as queuing space for the pilgrims. There are railings fixed along each of these treads’ edges.

As the railings are fixed by digging a hole in the concrete steps, they can be removed and stored during off seasons.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

ZONES OF THE TOWN: The old village is in the north east area of the temple complex as shown in the above image. The industries were constructed in the north western corner of the town on the other side of the railway line. The town started developing towards the industrial area, sprawling between the temple and thermal plant. Due to the railway line separating the industries and the town it is observed that the tracks act as a border for the rapidly developing town.

Figure 45 – Zones of Parli

The open grounds are just patches of non-fertile lands sprawled in the south-western region of the ton and in between the farmlands. The new part of the town is just an agricultural land turned bare land turned residential and commercial area. The two zones are almost similar as the culture and lifestyle remains the same. The style and type of houses or the amenities are a little improvement on the older ones but the look remains almost akin. It can be inferred that the town started as an individual body without the temple as a simple agricultural town.

As the number of pilgrims increased it transformed partly into a temple town with multiple tourism based activities as a rising profession. Various people were working as part time vendors. They would be cultivating all through the year except on special occasions when the temple is overcrowded for festivals and special occasions. Later the town moved towards north western region in the direction of the industrial area.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

STREETS:

Figure 46 – Street across Parli Vijanath Temple

Figure 47 – Street about 0.5km away from the temple

Figure 48 – Street about 1km away from the Temple

Figure 49 – Market place about 1km away from the Temple

The town has proper wide streets with no cars parked along its side to reduce the overall width of the street. One might observe a few two wheelers parked here and there along the corner but they barely interrupt any traffic space. On normal regular working days the streets are silent and isolated on afternoons. They are crowded a much as a developed town during mornings and evenings. Most of the structures along the roads are mixed use and have been converted into big and small shops.

During festivals the streets are filled with villagers, pilgrims, tourists, visitors, visiting relatives of the local residents, etc. There are no particular types of shops that are more or less in the town. All the shops are for regular local residential users, like grocery stores, food and snack stalls, motor repair shops, etc.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

OLD TOWN vs NEW TOWN: The old and new region of the town differs in various aspects such as the infrastructure, quality of amenities, road patterns, etc. The new region has a grid pattern that resembles that of the industrial area right above it, while the older area has an organic pattern.

Figure 50 – New vs Old part of Parli

Observing the above image one can easily notice the differences in the textures and patterns of the urban layout of the old and new parts of the town. The old part is a self formed small village that expanded due to the popularity of the temple, while the new part of the town is proprly laid out in a grid iron pattern that was built only for the population migrating for emplyoment in various industries in the north west region.

Figure 51

Figure 52

Haphazard planning less layout of the old part of the town

Proper planned and executed layout of the new part of the town

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

SERVICES AND AMENITIES: The town is very well equipped with services and amenities. It has everything from medical, to commercial to educational facilities. While all the hospitals, schools and markets are located right in the heart of the town, most of the universities are on the outskirts.

HOSPITALS

Figure 53 – Map for Hospitals in Parli

Figure 54 – Sub district Hospital, Parli

Figure 55 - Map for Schools in Parli

Figure 56 – Global School, Parli

Figure 57 - Map for Colleges in Parli

Figure 58 – Laxmibai University

SCHOOLS

COLLEGES

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

MARKETS

Figure 59 - Map for Markets in Parli

Figure 60 – Street Market, Parli

The map above shows markets with a radius of 300m around them. The new part of town has multiplw shopping areas while the old one has street markets and hawkers.

RECREATIONAL SPACES

Figure 61 – Vaijanath Garden or City Garden

The ‘Vaijanath Garden’, also called the ‘City garden’ is located in the heart of the town. It has two statues, one Shiva statue with stepped landscape at the centre of the garden and a Jijamata statue in the north western corner of it. The rest of the garden is plain lawns and some paved jogging tracks.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

INFERENCE IMAGEABILTY OF THE VILLAGE      



Parli Vaijyanath Jyotirlinga temple is located at the south west corner of the town Parli, almost out of the built part of the town itself.

Though the town was once popular only for the jyotirlinga temple, it is now known for the thermal power plant and sugar and cotton industries.

As the study indicates, the Thermal Power Plant and industrial development is majorly responsible for the development of the town.

The number of people involved in tourism based services has gradually decreased as the number of industries went on increasing.

The gradual change in the layout of the city was induced due to the availability of alternate employment opportunities and thus improved the quality of life of the local residents.

All the above led to various other amenities being developed in the town like hospitals, schools, colleges, etc. Hence, what was once a village has now become a full blown developed town.

On the other hand the temple’s entry that once used to be chaotic has now become a ghost town. There are only about 6 permanent and 5 temporary service providers.

INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE PILGRIM SPOT 



 

The temple is governed by a personal trust with no involvement of the local governing body and vice versa. The temple and the town may be in good shape but the overlapping spaces have been completely neglected.

The front area of the temple has a Bhakt niwas with about 5 shops at its ground floor frontage. Apart from that one can see many small street vendors selling ‘Pooja Samagri’ (things that are offered to a deity while praying) and flowers.

It is clearly observed that the town developed on its own without the temple and the temple progressed at its own speeds without being affected by the rapidly urbanizing town.

Although the temple was in the heart of the old town due to the industries the town spread more towards the north, thus leaving the temple in a corner.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

KUMBAKONAM CASE STUDY This research paper involves the study of macro level planning, tourism and sustainable development of Kumbakonam, a temple town in terms of its tangible heritage elements using GIS. Kumbakonam, is a multicentre temple town, consisting of 180 temples with rich cultural heritage which was the political capital of Chola dynasty. The GIS study intends to merge cartographical and statistical analysis for a database. It is used in various fields like tourism, urban planning, construction, solid waste management, agriculture, transport, population control, etc. The initial research involved the study of the evolution of the town during the dynasties that ruled over it.

After completing the mapping of the tangible heritage characters of the town, the author proposed the following analysis:

Figure 62 – Kumbakonam Study area map



    

After digitization, the temple area, commercial area and residential area were deeply analyzed. It shows that the town has more number of temple structures which have been placed all over the town area between the two rivers Arasalaru and Cauvery.

There are few tanks which are placed in the temple precinct used for religious purpose, near the temple for the purpose of festivals and few tanks used for ablution purpose.

The fairs and festivals are conducted in the temple region with the combination of tanks which adds to intangible cultural heritage of the town.

Map showing the various processional paths is marked to understand how tangible and intangible characters play a vivid role in a heritage town.

The whole town is seems to be covered with the residential area .There are also few slum area in the core of the town and nearer to the banks of the two river.

The pavilions, ghats and secondary shrines are situated near the Cauvery River than Arasalaru.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

INFERENCE: The study refers to the place as a hydro centric town, explaining, one of the most important parts of temple town. Like many other temple towns, it accomplishes accurate temple locations by constructing them along water bodies as mentioned in the holy texts. Also, there are temples, small or big, scattered all around the town, residing different deities make the town diverse in culture and traditions adding to the connections between tangible and intangible aspects of its heritage. As the town flourished and tourism developed, the temple town started to lack facilities in terms of urban design and infrastructure. When population increases and the city is unable to meets its demands, the imbalance starts deteriorating if not taken care of immediately.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

PLANNING FOR URBANIZATION IN RELIGIOUS TOURISM DESTINATIONS: INSIGHTS FROM SHIRDI, INDIA The paper explains how religious tourism economy drives rapid urbanization including demographic change and land-use conversion owing to the infrastructure needs of visitors and the factors that are responsible for characterizing urbanization in religious tourism towns. The author states that religious tourism destinations (or pilgrim-towns as conventionally known) are special places where urbanization processes are driven by visitor influxes that visit these places for cultural and religious reasons. UNWTO (2011) estimates around 170 million visits to more than 2,000 pilgrim-towns in India and such visits comprise 70–90% of domestic tourism flows (NCAER, 2003; UNWTO, 2011).

The paper mentions religious tourism as a specific type of tourism driven by religious reasons and often associated with holidaymaking. Given the increase in faith travel in recent years, at a recent UNWTO Conference, definition of religious tourism was expanded as ‘a form of tourism that has its goal a destination which is able to provide diverse religious resources for the fulfilment of religious and non-religious purposes and experiences’.

This paper aims at examining urban transformation in religious tourism destinations using planning vocabulary that includes study of land use, real estate and infrastructure development and the planning mechanisms that address these. The author chose Shirdi as a representative of several other Indian pilgrim-towns that are undergoing rapid transformation of their physical environment owing to large-scale religious tourism activities. The concepts of location of resource, core and periphery, access routes, imagined and real landscapes, religious tourism, patronizing development of a place, and urban growth driven by tourist flows are brought together for understanding planning framework for urbanization of Indian temple towns in this paper.

Later, the author explains in detail the evolution of Shirdi through all these years, the increasing population, planning interventions, land-use forms, developing it into an eco-city, zoning for locals and pilgrims and various other factors to explain the urbanization of the small village into a town.

The study of Shirdi draws attention to the following characteristics of the urbanization process in religious tourism destinations. As an urban form, the idea of a core and surrounding intense commerce zone holds good for pilgrim-town like Shirdi but the concentric belts as identified by Rinschede (1986) or tourist districts as suggested by Pearce (2001) may not necessarily exist.

Instead, there may be pockets of intense activities along access roads, much like a radial city with access roads converging to the core.

He writes that the planning interventions fuelled physical expansion of the town through land use conversions, influx of private capital and speculative investments. In spite of all that expansion, there was no considerable infrastructure that was necessary for tourism; instead it led to encroachments and illegal constructions. Although in the paper, one of the interviewees pointed out that the core is unplanned with more mixed land use and structures that are dense, unauthorized and illegal but the periphery appears to be planned with some sense of order with wider roads, larger plots and lesser density: this is due to clear and distinct land uses and the enforcement of regulations and approvals

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

necessary for larger establishments (Datta Bothe, Hotel owner, male, 40 years, interviewed on 21 March 2011). Thus two spatial manifestations or two towns are overlaid over each other – one that of visitors and the other belonging to residents. Within the town of visitors also there is a difference: the areas under the ‘Public Trust’ are more formal and structured, whereas the private sector is informal and illegal and unauthorized providing more flexible labour force. Finally the paper discusses about the fairly limited success of design interventions due to the flawed process of preparation of the DP as demographic projections grossly underestimate the target populations (residents and visitors).

Planners were neither able to visualize and take into account the rapid growth in visitor flows and ensuing migration nor seem to be aware of trends in religious tourism

The research paper concludes that, while the processes in urbanization may be different due to sociopolitical and cultural context, the outcome in spatial form is determined by land-use conversions, infrastructure and investments in religious and non-religious infrastructure, and the institutional arrangement that exists for guiding and planning urban growth in tourism destinations. Also, landuse analysis has helped in substantiating the discourse of urbanization in pilgrim-towns where one finds ‘one town over the other’, each with different needs of planning: tourism destination and/or sacred place; town of visitors and/or residents; mosaic of formal and informal enterprises serving religious tourism. The paper has also demonstrated how the conventional idea of a sacred core and peripheral town-life may not necessarily be true of contemporary religious tourism destinations.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

INFERENCE: The author initiates the research paper with statements and analytics of various other published papers. He explains what information has been synthesized over the years regarding religious tourism and pilgrim spots and later integrates it all to relate it to the urbanization of Shirdi as a temple town. The following can be inferred from the paper: Religious tourism destinations tend to develop certain spatial layout owing to the nature of religious activities pertinent to the worship of their deity based on the involvement of devotees. This leads to create a cultural and spiritual image ability of the city in term of its religious establishments and spatial arrangement, which is created to enhance the emotional experience of the visitors.

Heitzman in 1987 stated, temple building and religious infrastructure are generally not considered as factors that contribute to physical transformation in pilgrim-towns and consequently have been absent from explanation about urbanization process in pilgrim-towns. But the research paper in discussion, explains that instead of looking at the town in terms or layout, pattern and texture with respect to all the functions for tourists and locals together, one can analyse the town as two separate entities. Hence the town for the tourists and the town for the locals are mapped individually and then overlapped, will help one understand the urbanization of the town better.

The failed development plans and other planning mechanisms in religious tourism destinations are due to inefficient and inaccurate approach towards the study of temple towns. Also various proposals are not executed as the planning frameworks are too rigid for such kind of sites and the institutions proposed are not of multidisciplinary nature in an urban layout.

Basically, in the Indian context every temple and temple town has its own specific way of functioning in terms of different types of visitors or locals and differs on the basis of various factors.

Indian planning authorities haven’t been giving proper attention to the need of idiosyncrasy of a temple town while developing or designing for it, which has led to multiple failed attempts in the past. Before proposing urban design guidelines; the specific characteristics, evolution, development, urbanization, etc. needs to be studied in detail for efficient interventions and planning solutions.

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REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

SITE ANALYSIS TRIMBAKESHWAR Introduction ................................................................................. 75 Demographic data ..................................................... 79 Evolution of the town................................................ 89 Study of various zones .............................................. 91 Major zones .................................................. 93 Minor zones .................................................. 94 Amenities ................................................................. 121 Streets (photo analysis).......................................... 131 Development proposals .......................................... 141 Proposed interventions ........................................... 147 Site 1 ........................................................... 151 Analysis .......................................... 152 Design intent ................................... 160 Design brief .................................... 160 Site 2 ........................................................... 165 Analysis .......................................... 166 Design intent ................................... 169 Design brief .................................... 170 Site 2 ........................................................... 173 Analysis ................................................. 174 Design intent .......................................... 175 Design brief............................................ 175

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

INTRODUCTION: Trimbakeshwar is an ancient Hindu temple in the town of Trimbak, in the Trimbakeshwar tehsil in the Nashik District of Maharashtra, India, 28 km from the city of Nashik and 40 km from nashik road. It is dedicated to the Hindu god Shiv and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, where the Hindu genealogy registers at Trimbakeshwar are kept. The origin of the sacred Godavari River is near Trimbak, located on the top of a hill which is about 15-20 minutes away from the town.

Trimbakeshwar is a, non-agricultural, pilgrim town that is popular for the Jyotirlinga temple, post death rituals, other special traditional rituals, origin of Godavari River and various other smaller religious places. It is declared as a pilgrimage center in north Maharashtra by the Ministry of Tourism and culture. (MAcdonald, March 2003) The town is popular for the following:    

The Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga Temple Special rituals (Pitrudosh and Kalasarpa Poojas) The Brahmhagiri Trekking point (mostly during monsoon) Ahilyaa dam (during monsoons only)

Figure 63 - Map of Trimbakeshwar

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

According to the report ‘20 year perspective plan for development of sustainable tourism in Maharashtra’ submitted by Dalal Mott Macdonald (formerly Dalal consultants & engineers limited) Nashik has 4 potential tourist destination viz. Nashik, Wani, Trimbakeshwar and Shirdi. Maharashtra State Tourism Development Corporation has set up several tourist complexes, which provide quality accommodation to the tourists at affordable rates and it also has one in Trimbakeshwar. The town lies in the northern zone as defined by MTDC and can be accessed by NH-30, NH-3 and NH-6.

(MAcdonald, March 2003)

Figure 64 – Pilgrimage Destinations in Maharashtra

Figure 65 – Nashik-Wani-Trimbakeshwar

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

The report states that any tourist visiting has an average stay of 1-2 days as they are a part of existing tourist circuit and it also records that many of the destinations have about 50% repeated visits. The report mentions about the Nasik trio, i.e. the Nasik – Wani – Trimbakeshwar tourism circuit which is one of the most popular tourism chains after Aurangabad - Ajanata – Ellora. It has an approximate 7,15,000 domestic (along with about 5-6% international) tourist flow per year. It reports a tourist inflow of 50 lakhs during the Kumbha mela.

The main events in the Kumbhamela are known as ‘Shahi snan’. The dates for Shahi snan are as follows: Pratham (First); Snan Shravan Poornima (Full moon); Dwitiya (Second); Snan Maha Parva - Shravan Amavasya (New moon); Tritiya (Third); Snan Bhadrapad Amavasya (new moon).

Around 25,000 tourists are expected to visit Trimbakeshwar, daily on the three auspicious days.

Hence, there is little risk of decrease in tourist inflow by virtue of it being a pilgrimage destination.

These destinations attract tourists almost round the year and there is less difference in peak and lean tourist traffic. (MAcdonald, March 2003) There are many research papers published regarding the layout and structure of temple towns. They state that temple towns can be classified as single-centered or multi-centered based on the number and location of religious shrines. Every temple town is popular for a story or myth that attracts pilgrims, although many pilgrims visit various temples and temple towns out of shear faith or belief in that deity. Survey suggests that out of the total individuals visiting a temple town about 30% are strong believers, while about 40% of the modern day population visits temples with family as a part of a trip or picnic. Out of the remaining 30%, about 20% is kids and 10% are visiting just to accompany their family with no special attachment to the temple, or deity or town.

Study suggests that most of the temples in a temple town are not integrated with the rest of the town.

These kinds of temples don’t interfere in the functions and activities of the town and vice versa. But some of the temples are located in the very heart of the town and do have some or the other impact on the regular functioning of the town. Trimbakeshwar is the second type of town.

The Jyotirlinga temple is located right in the heart of the town because the town was formed around the temple. Also Trimbakeshwar is one of the only two places in India where the rituals like ‘Pitrudosh Pooja’ and ‘Kaalasarpa’ are performed. Thus, the pilgrims are not just concentrated around the temple but in various parts of the town too. This type of closely integrated typologies of tourism and a regular town is rarely observed and Trimabkeshwar is one of the very few temple towns in the world with this type of structure.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

The zone for tourism has been constricted by the town around it and the tourist’s zone being in the center of the town somewhat affects the daily lives of the people. The residents of Trimbakeshwar who are not involved in any religious activities lack employment opportunities as the space around the temple is already overcrowded and there is no fertile land left for agriculture. Also there is no scope for industrial development as the town is located in the valley created by four hills. Thus, these residents have established some sort of services for the pilgrims like canteen, mess, small motels, shops, etc.

Some of these services are in the prime area while some are lost in the haphazard layout of the town.

Due to lack of signage, these small service providers are left in the corner, neglected. As there is very little other employment available for these non pandits living in the town, they are all involved in the service provision for the pilgrims.

Hence, this research aims at developing the legitability of the town and providing better public spaces in the town. The town also lacks common spaces, small gardens, etc. which are essential in every area.

Trimbakeshwar is a unique temple town and it serves a diverse variety of crowd, staying in the town for varied time periods. Thus, the town could function much better and more smoothly by adding a few interventions.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

DEMOGRAPHIC DATA TRIMBAKESHWAR General data .............................................................. 81 Caste-wise population ............................................... 81 Religion-wise population ......................................... 81 Literacy rate .............................................................. 82 Sex ratio ..................................................................... 82 Child population ....................................................... 82 Urban rural population ............................................ 83 Land use wrt to developed area ................................. 84 Land use wrt to total area .......................................... 85 Existing vs proposed total area of trimbakeshwar 86 Occupational structure ............................................. 86 Climate Analysis ....................................................... 87

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

DEMOGRAPHIC DATA 





 

Trimbakeshwar is a medium size village located in Trimbakeshwar Taluka of Nashik district, Maharashtra with total 273 families residing. The total population of 168,423 of which 85,298 are males while 83,125 are females as per Population Census 2011. The Average Sex Ratio of Trimbakeshwar Taluka is 975.

In Trimbakeshwar, the population of children with age 0-6 is 26691 which makes up 16% of total population of village. There are 13534 male children and 13157 female children between the ages 0-6 years. Thus as per the Census 2011 the Child Sex Ratio of Trimbakeshwar Taluka is 972 which is slightly less than its Average Sex Ratio ( 975) .

As per Census 2011 out of total population, 7.2% people lives in Urban areas while 92.8% lives in the Rural areas. The average literacy rate in urban areas is 89.6% while that in the rural areas is 67.2%. Also the Sex Ratio of Urban areas in Trimbakeshwar Taluka is 954 while that of rural areas is 976.

The total literacy rate of Trimbakeshwar Taluka is 68.91%. The male literacy rate is 64.97% and the female literacy rate is 50.82% in Trimbakeshwar Taluka.

As per constitution of India and Panchyati Raaj Act, Trimbakeshwar is administrated by Sarpanch (Head of Village) who is elected representative of the town. (2011) Table 1 – Demographics of Trimbakeshwar

Total

Male

Female

Children (Age 0-6)

26,691

13,534

13,157

Literacy

68.91%

64.97%

50.82%

Scheduled Caste

7,687

3,965

3,722

Scheduled Tribe

135,078

67,836

67,242

Illiterate

70,761

29,876

40,885

Caste-wise Population Schedule Caste (SC) constitutes 4.6% while Schedule Tribe (ST) were 80.2% out of total population in Trimbakeshwar. (2011) Table 2 – Caste wise population of Trimbakeshwar

Total

Male

Female

Schedule Caste

7,687

3,965

3,722

Schedule Tribe

135,078

67,836

67,242

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Religion-wise Population

Table 3 – Religion wise population of Trimbakeshwar

Religion

Total

Male

Female

Hindu

164,861 (97.89%) 83,493

81,368

Muslim

1,779

(1.06%)

879

900

Christian

117

(0.07%)

53

64

Sikh

16

(0.01%)

9

7

Buddhist

813

(0.48%)

409

404

Jain

11

(0.01%)

3

8

Other Religion

22

(0.01%)

19

3

No Religion Specified

804

(0.48%)

433

371

Literacy Rate Average literacy rate of Trimbakeshwar Taluka in 2011 were 68.91% in which, male and female literacy were 77.23% and 60.37% respectively. Total literate people in Trimbakeshwar were 97,662 out of which male and female were 55,422 and 42,240 respectively. (2011)

Sex Ratio The Sex Ratio of Trimbakeshwar Taluka is 975. Thus for every 1000 men there were 975 females.

(2011)

Child Population According to Census 2011, there were 26,691 children between ages 0 to 6 years in Trimbakeshwar Taluka. Out of which 26,691 were male while 26,691 were female. Also, the Child Sex Ratio was 972 which is less than its Average Sex Ratio (975). (2011)

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Urban Rural Population As per Census 2011, there are total 2,266 families under Trimbakeshwar Taluka living in urban areas while 2,266 families are living within rural areas. Thus around 7.2% of total population lives in Urban areas while 92.8% lives under Rural areas. Population of children (0 - 6 years) in urban region is 1,338 while that in rural region is 25,353. (2011) Table 4 – Urban-Rural population of Trimbakeshwar

Total

Urban

Rural

Population

168,423

12,056

156,367

Children (0 - 6 years)

26,691

1,338

25,353

Schedule Caste

7,687

713

6,974

Schedule Tribe

135,078

4,314

130,764

Literacy

68.91%

89.61%

67.21%

Sex Ratio

975

954

976

Working Population In Trimbakeshwar, out of total population, 85,295 were engaged in work activities. 86.8% of workers describe their work as main work (employment or earning for more than 6 months) while 13.2% were involved in marginal activity providing livelihood for less than 6 months. 85,295 workers that were engaged in main work, 34,884 were cultivators (owner or co-owner) while 30,639 were agricultural labourer. (2011) Table 5 – Professions of population of Trimbakeshwar

Total

Male

Female

Main Workers

73,995

41,628

32,367

Cultivators

34,884

19,889

14,995

Agriculture Labourer

30,639

15,615

15,024

Household Industries

653

361

292

Other Workers

7,819

5,763

2,056

Marginal Workers

11,300

4,645

6,655

Non-Working

83,128

39,025

44,103

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Table 6 – Existing Land use analysis of developed area of Trimbakeshwar

EXISTING LAND USE ANALYSIS WRT TO DEVELOPED AREA RESIDENTIAL

26%

COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL

46%

PUBLIC AND SEMI PUBLIC

19%

TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION

5% 4%

Table 7 – Proposed Land use analysis of developed area of Trimbakeshwar

PROPOSED LAND USE ANALYSIS WRT TO DEVELOPED AREA 1%

RESIDENTIAL

11%

COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL

13% PUBLIC AND SEMI PUBLIC

13%

0% 2%

60%

TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES AND OPEN SPACES PUBLIC UTILITY

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Table 8 – Existing Land use of total area of Trimbakeshwar

EXISTING LAND USE ANALYSIS WRT TO TOTAL AREA 1%

3%

1% 3%

4% 9%

RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL

5%

PUBLIC AND SEMI PUBLIC TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION AGRICULTURAL WATER BODIES

74%

VACANT LAND

Table 9 – Proposed Land use of total area of Trimbakeshwar

PROPOSED LAND USE ANALYSIS WRT TO TOTAL AREA 3%

RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL

30% INDUSTRIAL

46%

PUBLIC AND SEMI PUBLIC

1% 7% 6% 0%

7%

0%

TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES AND OPEN SPACES

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Table 10 – Existing vs Proposed total area of Trimbakeshwar 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

EXISTING

0

PROPOSED

Table 11 – Occupational Structure 1400 1200 1000 800 FEMALE

600

MALE

400 200 0 CULTIVATORS

AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS

HOUSE HOLD INDUSTRY AND SERVICES

TRADE, COMMERCE AND TRANSPORT SERVICES

As the percentage of workers in secondary and tertiary sectors is more than that in primary sector it can be concluded that Trimbakeshwar is not an agricultural town but a developing Pilgrimage center.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

CLIMATE ANALYSIS: In general the climate of Trimbakeshwar is very delightful due to the surrounding greenery, water bodies and mountains. The maximum nd minimum temperature at the town is 105°F and 80°F. (Department) The climate here is tropical. In winter, there is much less rainfall than in summer. The climate here is classified as Aw by the Köppen-Geiger system. In Trimbakeshwar, the average annual temperature is 23.5 °C. The rainfall here averages 2174 mm. (2018)

Figure 66 – Climate Graph (2018)

May is the warmest month of the year, when the temperature averages 28.0 °C. In January, the average temperature is 19.6 °C and it is the lowest average temperature of the whole year.

There is a difference of 854 mm of precipitation between the driest and wettest months. The average temperatures vary during the year by 8.4 °C. (2018).

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

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REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

STUDY OF VARIOUS ZONES TRIMBAKESHWAR MAJOR ZONES ....................................................... 93 MINOR ZONES........................................................ 94 TEMPLE COMPLEX AND CEMETERY .. 97 MIXED USE FOR TOURISM ..................... 99 MIXED USE ZONE (PANDITS) .............. 101 RESIDENTIAL ZONE .............................. 105 COMMERCIAL ZONE ............................. 111 BUS STAND AND PARKING.................. 113 WATER BODIES ...................................... 115 AMENITIES ............................................... 119 HOSPITALS ............................................... 119 SCHOOLS .................................................. 120 COLLEGES ................................................ 121 PUBLIC TOILETS ..................................... 122 RECREATIONAL SPACES ...................... 123 MARKETS ................................................. 125

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

MAJOR ZONES OF THE TOWN: As Trimbakeshwar is popular for the temple and the rituals that are performed in the town, the town has urbanized in slightly different ways. Some part of the town has become a full-fledged and chaotic tourist destination while some of it resembles to an old and peaceful village.After careful observation and survey of the site, the town can be roughly divided into three zones.

Figure 67 – Major zones of Trimbakeshwar

Zone A, is the area that is widely used by the pilgrims or the visitors. Thus, the type of structures in this Zone are also more tourist oriented. The existing residential structures in this area have been completely or partially transformed into commercial structures for the pilgrims. These structures include hotels, restaurants, tea stalls, shops selling toys, bags, snacks, shells and other religiously symbolic elements, locker areas, etc.

Zone B can also be called as the ritual zone, for it’s the part of the town where the people who are in the town for performing rituals like ‘Pitrudosh’ or ‘Kaalasarpa’. These are not just pilgrims or visitors who are there for the day for just a few hours, but they are temporarily residing in the town for about two to three days atleast. These visitors are usually in groups of more than three four people. Also unlike the regular pilgrims are seen in the town all throughout the year, these pilgrims arrive only on the dates specified by the pandits.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Zone C is part of the town that has only the local residents living in it. It looks and feels like any other small village or developing town with small big houses and a few shops here and there. This zone is entirely different from the other two in terms of activities, type of houses or shops, etc.

The site has zones that can be distinguished on the basis of land use prevalent in that area. For further detailed study of the site, the town is divided into smaller zones as shown in the image below:

Figure 68 – Minor Zones of Trimbakeshwar

All these zones may not be drastically different from each other but they all do differ in characteristic, typologies of structures, residents and visitors’ behaviour, types of shops and street vendors, etc. They can also be differentiated on the basis of vehicular and/or pedestrian traffic, noise, extent of developed infrastructure. Naturally in the town, the spaces for tourists have been paid more attention and thus have proper concrete roads, streets lamps, signage, etc. while the roads only for residents in the rest of the town lacks many of these. As the town has organically developed and urbanized, the most important thing lacking in it is legibility and imageability.

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

AMENITIES: Trimbakeshwar is a village that organically expanded on its own without any planning. Hence the oldest area of the town is extremely congested and cluttered. The town had all the requirements for the people like clinic, medical stores, etc. but soon they started to get old as compared to the modern amenities. Introducing new amenities in the old part of town was very difficult as there was enough space to build or operate them. Hence all the new amenities were built around the old part of the town.

Figure 69 – Map for Hospitals in Trimbakeshwar

The hospitals in Trimbakeshwar are located in the newly developed part of it as there is no place to build a structure inside the town. Also the narrow roads of town filled with people and vendors would have made it very difficult to operate an ambulance.

The image on the left is the photograph of the sub-district hospital of Trimbakeshwar. They have all the facilities from O.P.D., general ward, maternity ward to a small working operation theatre. An extremely severe case is send to the nearest hospital in Nasik.

Figure 70 – Sub-district hotel, Trimbakeshwar

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Figure 71 – Map for Schools in Trimbakeshwar

The town has a total of four schools:    

ZP School Nutan Trimbak Vidyalaya Balaji International School Ashram School

They all are also located in the new part of town in the mixed use zones. They are ot in the completely new zones but the ones built at least 25-30 years ago.

The town has both primary and secondary schools. Due to their close proximity to the town, it’s easy for the kids to walk to school.

Figure 72 – Balaji International School

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Figure 73 – Map for college in Trimbakeshwar

The Nutan Trimbak Vidyalaya and Junior College in Trimbakeshwar is the only college in town.

It is located in northern central region of town beside the parking area.

It is a ground plus two structures with classes for students from junior kg to 12th standard.

The ground floor of the front of the building along the road is rented out to shopkeepers.

Figure 74 – Nutan Trimbak Vidyalaya and Junior College

REVITALISING TRIMBAKESHWAR AS A TEMPLE TOWN

Figure 75 – Public toilets in Trimbakeshwar

Figure 76

Figure 77

Figure 78

Figure 79

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Figure 9 - Street sections, Trimbakeshwar

The figures above are the sections of the streets passing through the EWS residential zone. They have narrow roads with maximum width of 4m. But the wide as well the narrow roads have sheds or external staircase, small verandah, etc. built along its edges. This has resulted in very narrow spaces left for the people to walk by. The maximum and minimum clear widths recorded during the visit were 4m and 0.8m respectively.

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STREETS OF TRIMABAKESHWAR – PHOTO ANALYSIS: Streets are one of the most important elements of urban design and planning. They are responsible for not only connecting each and every part of the city but they also act as the spill out space for each house. In Trimbakeshwar, the streets are the community spaces for the people to relax and chat or dry paapads or wash clothes or utensils.

The locals don’t always go the garden in the town. Instead, they place chairs or spread blankets on the side of the roads, under the shade of tree on lazy afternoons for chats or short naps. In the early morning in the north western part of the site the women are seen washing utensils and clothes in the mornings.

The streets along the roads are lined with vendors and bustling with pilgrims. But although the residents and visitors are doing all the above mentioned activities they are just adjusting with the current conditions as the city is not well equipped for the same. In order to address the overall issue, it is necessary to study the design of the street environment and street network as a whole.

In this research, the streets of Trimbakeshwar have been divided into primary, secondary and tertiary, based on the width of the street and its vehicular accessibility.

Figure 80 – Road network, Trimbakeshwar

After many site visits and observations, the town shows two basic types of streets. First type includes the ones that belong to the villagers or the locals. These streets are calmer and smaller. They have trees on both sides with cots and chairs below it or a small garden maybe. They feel like those in a typical old village with curtains instead of doors and kids playing around. The second type includes the ones you find in a proper full-fledged town, where the buildings along the roads are mixed use and there are only shops or signage boards or closed doors along the road.

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Figure 81 – Trimbakeshwar Road network - Exploded

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DEVELOPMENT OF TRIMBAKESHWAR: In 1966, the local authority of Trimbakeshwar was obliged to prepare a Development plan for the then village due to the Maharashtra Regional and Town planning Act. Hence the Trimbakeshwar Municipal Council prepared the Development plan which was sanctioned by the government on 0601-1976 and came into force with effect on 09-02-1976. The plan was expected to reserve public sites and zoning for a projected population of 7500 souls in 1993. The Development plan was carefully laid out while giving maximum importance to protect the natural environment in its original state in order to maintain the sacred or holy character of the place.

The Municipal Council was partially successful in developing the following: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Dharmashaalas Primary School Taxi Stand Cremation Ground or Burning Ghat Cement Concrete Road from S.T. Stand to Nivruttinath Samadhi Temple RCC bridge over Godavari river

Site no. 8 Site no. 7 Site no. 8 (partly existing)

All of this accounts for only 25% implementation of the proposed development plan. The census of 1981 (i.e.6759) inferred that the town is not showing any sort of potential either commercial or otherwise although the town has been successful in maintaining its religious character. But if proper planning is executed by the Municipal Council the existing amenities and inputs of some commercial nature could be improved. Many pilgrims visit the town on the occasion of ‘Kumbha Mela’ and Nivruttinath Fair and it becomes necessary for the Government to provide amenities on large scale for the floating population.

The physical survey conducted as a part of the development of Trimbakeshwar states that it ia a holy sacred town filled with temples and lakes. The town is located in the middle of four mountains viz.; Neel Parvat on the north and Brahmagiri on the south and west. The origin of the Godavari River is situated at Bramhagiri. The town has many natural lakes like Kushavart, Indradeep Teertha, Gautam tank, Mukund Tank, etc. Gangasagar Talav which is located near Nivruttinath temple supplies water to the town.

Some of the areas in which PPPs are evolved are listed below: 1. Solid Waste Management 2. Water supply 3. Street Lighting 4. Maintenance of Roads & Bridges 5. Sewerage 6. Parks 7. Commercial complexes 8. Markets 9. Bus Shelters

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Figure 82

The yellow portion in the map indicates space for tourists’ amenities while the blue green on its left is agricultural area. This area has been modified into Tehsildar residence.

Although it’s true that the town could really use a tourist center but its location does not seem suitable. The site being on the other side of the town, the temple complex (which is the major interest) will attract lesser crown than expected.

On the other hand it being right beside a garden and swimming pool will give it an advantage.

It could be suggested that the site be moved a little lower along the 15m wide road. There it will be easily visible as well as approachable.

The site allotted for market and shopping mall has already been paved and allotted for paring according to the car free Monday system.

Also proposing a market a small beside an already existing annual market space will not work very efficiently.

And moving the seasonal market up to this place will make the area dirtier owing to the waste created by the already existing market.

Figure 83 The dark blue area in the map beside has been allocated for developing a mall, but now it’s allocated for public housing and parking. Some of the area has already been occupied by a few houses, but the rest is full of small tents and grading land for cattle.

The pink colour area beside it is space to build a taluka court, while currently this place has a government office and a primacy school.

The location for the court though is ideal due to the parking space it affords apart from being out of the clutter og the town.

Figure 84 The development plan proposes a fair garden and a rope way in the west most edge of the town. This is where the steps to Ganga dwaar start.

It’s a beautiful location to build a garden, but the user group needs to be realized for the same. The demographics state that there are already pretty fewer children in the town than the adults.

Trimbakeshwar already has one small garden which is barely used.

The adults of the town like to relax in the small verandah of the town or on the roads in the afternoons. They are very less likely to use the ground on daily occasions.

Figure 85

On the other hand if there was an interpretation center, community center or an activity center for the kids, it would be used by both the locals as well as the visitors. In this case the number of people visiting the rope way would also increase and the additional revenue generated will make it easier to maintain.

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SITE SELECTION TRIMBAKESHWAR SITE SELCTION.................................................... 147 SITE 1 ...................................................................... 151 ANALYSIS ................................................ 152 DESIGN INTENT ...................................... 160 DESIGN BRIEF ......................................... 160 SITE 2 ...................................................................... 165 ANALYSIS ................................................ 166 DESIGN INTENT ...................................... 169 DESIGN BRIEF ......................................... 170 SITE 3 ...................................................................... 173 ANALYSIS ................................................ 174 DESIGN INTENT ...................................... 175 DESIGN BRIEF ......................................... 175

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URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL INTERVENTIONS: Trimbakeshwar is a unique temple town and it serves a diverse variety of crowd, staying in the town for varied time periods. The town requires better legitability and provision of better public spaces.

The town also lacks common spaces, small gardens, etc. which are essential in every place. Thus, the town could function much better and more smoothly by adding a few interventions.

The intervention in Trimbakeshwar can be divided into various categories as follows:

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SITE 1: The Tourists’ Zone LOCATION:

Figure 86 – Site 1_ Zone for Tourists

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ELEMENTS:

Figure 87 – Elements in Site 1

The maps above show the four elements that are expected to remain the focus of the intervention or revitalization. These four elements have been observed to be the most important and crowded parts of the city. They are used equally by both the local and the tourists or the pilgrims. The analysis and present condition of each element is as follows:

 Parking Space: o It’s an open space located to the north of the temple precinct along the boundary of the town. One can also refer to it as the former boundary of the town, considering the organic growth and encroachments along the face of the mountain further north of the site. o These encroachments include EWS middle density housing, the housing for special communities of Sadhus referred to as ‘Akhadas’., smaller slum like dwellings and a few sheds. o The current open space hasn’t been hindered by anything but slum dwellers or the small kacchha houses built on the ground along the main road on the other side of the pavement and the open drain. o There is a sloping road along the lateral side that leads to an Akhada. That is a space demarcated by a huge entry gate with houses, sheds, dharmashalas, etc. o On the other side of the road of the parking space there are multiple residential commercial structures with small houses above or behind shops. o These smaller structures lack resemblance to the core of the city in terms of the growth pattern or façade.

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Figure 88 – Shree Pancha Dashnaam Juna Aavahan Akhada

Figure 89 - Shree Pancha Dashnaam Aavahan Akhada

Akhadas on the north-east of the parking lot

Figure 90 – Slums in parking lot, Trimbakeshwar

Figure 91 - Slums in parking lot, Trimbakeshwar

 Streets that are flooded with tourists o From the entry points of the site to the temple the tourists follow a few specific routes. o These routes were basically established by the radial pattern of the town and will be o o o o o

discussed further in detail later.

They have been transformed into shopping streets for any visitor, tourist or pilgrim and not or the local people. It is understood that this transformation has happened due to the Tourism Urbanization experienced by the town in the past few years.

This urbanization has also led to decreasing street widths and congesting in the above marked street space.

These streets are very different from the ones in the southwestern area.

They have not only residential turned into mixed use structures, they also have street vendors along its edge withour trees or any other softscape.

These streets very much similar to the ones we observe in a developing town or city.

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Figure 92 – Road in front of temple, May 2018

Figure 93 - Road in front of temple, July 2018

The photographs above depict the street when it’s almost empty and when it is moderately crowded.

It can be noticed that although the town is crowded only on special occasions, there are many stalls and street vendors in the marked space all through the year.

 Bus Stand o The current Bus stand includes a waiting area, parking space for 12-15 (out of which 5 are platforms) buses and a public toilet. o The platforms are open to sky spaces with barely any outdoor semi open space to wait for arrival and departure. A passenger has to sit in the waiting room with the entire baggage and run to the nearest door or window on hearing the sound of any bus. This hordes the doorways and leads to a complete blunder especially during holidays. o There is no public calling system or LED indicators that crowd the inquiry counter thus making it a chaotic circle. o The ticket counter and the enquiry counters are alongside without any queuing area, which in turn inflates the chaotic circle.

 Water Body o To the south of the Jyotirlinga temple is the Gautam Lake which is a popular hanging spot for the locals as well as the visitors. o The lake has 0.8 m high iron fence above a 1 m high brick wall. There are few openings to this barrier with small concrete decks that are in terrible conditions due to lack of maintenance. o There is also one old newspaper stand in dilapidated conditions with broken iron seating and collapsed shed. o At the south east corner of the lake side there is a wider opening with steps leading to a much bigger deck, which is the lowest of all the decks, closed with an iron gate.

This space was once used to perform rituals but no has become a washing space for certain local people. o The lake has one or two flower and snack vendors and a few beggars. Due to the height of the wall and lack of seating places, people cannot linger in that area except for the decks.

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ROUTES TO THE TEMPLE:

Figure 94 – Routes to the Temple

The town has two entry points from NH-160 from SH-37 and SH-38. Both of them used to be empty roads surrounded by farms and open grounds with scanty trees. The town has been growing and spreading radially hence recently one can find bungalows and huts at intervals almost up to the National Highway. But these houses are maximum 2 km away from the temple precinct. Both the entry points pass by the Bus Stand of Trimbakeshwar.

The roads from the National Highway to the ST Stand were 8m wide proposed concrete roads for two way transportation of the buses. The poor quality of construction or deterioration of roads has left barely 6m wide roads without any pathways and dilapidated edges. Also many shop owners have encroached the space and front of them to build smaller stalls.

Route 1 passes through the following in the order mentioned below:    

Private Dharmashalas Bus Stand Public Parking space (Encroached by slums) Shops and stalls for Tourists

Route 2 passes through the following in the order mentioned below:

143    

Private Residences Bus Stand Crossing Dharmashalas and Pandits’ Residences Shops and stalls for Tourists

Both the routes are equally used and hence both the streets are packed with vendors or tourist based businesses. Due to lack of other employment opportunities and limited scope for agriculture the number of sellers on the streets has been elevating ever since.

The dotted lines shown in the image above indicate the two connections between the two major routes. They are the courses mostly used by local and visiting pedestrians, especially the pilgrims that get down at the bus stand and take these paved shortcuts to the temple. These short cuts mostly have old residential structures whose ground floors opening towards the road have now been converted into small or big commercial spaces.

These are comparatively more silent streets as compares to the major routes and not mostly accessed by four wheelers. The streets are mostly filled with private Dharmashaalas or office cum residents of the old and more honourable priests of the Trimbakeshwar temple.

BUILT/ UNBUILT:

Figure 95 – Built/ Unbuilt in Site 1

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LANDUSE:

Figure 96 – Development proposal for site 1

MISSING ELEMENTS: While redesigning the town, the most important thing that should be taken into consideration is that the town is neither just a regular town nor just a temple town. It has characteristics of both the typologies of town and hence its proposals should take care of all the problems with respect to both equally.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Street furniture Proper waiting or queuing spaces Improved spaces for the retailers for the tourists as well as locals Better public facilities Common areas and public places Better spaces for local and tourists Enhanced existing infrastructure More attractive and inviting water front for the Gautam Lake

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DESIGN INTENT: This area is the heart of the town. It has everything from residential to market and restaurants all in one area. This place is filled with both locals as well as pilgrims. Due to uncontrolled organically grown space, the place has barely any control over crown management. Sometimes the streets are so filled that there is no space to walk and sometimes it’s almost empty. The days and timings when the town gets crowded are decided by the annual calendar for the rituals, which changes every year.

Although the locals as well as the pilgrims adjust with the current conditions, a few interventions could help give a better space for the locals and a better experience for the pilgrims. The design does not intent to dilapidate and redo the existing place but add or remove few elements to make the space better. Like the current bus stand is in very poor condition although it’s used by both the user groups.

There is no control over the street vendors and no place for the pilgrims to sit and relax before or after they visit the temple.

DESIGN BRIEF: Table 12 – Design Brief (Site 1)

DESIGN SPACE

REQUIREMENTS

Bus stand Parking Platforms Ticket Counter Drivers Lounge Shops Toilet Waiting Area

6 – 8 buses 4 15 sq.m.

20 sq.m.

4 (9 sq.m. each) 20 sq.m.

30 sq.m.

Parking Ticketing and allocation system Toilet Café Waiting Lounge Routes to temple Street furniture Allocated space for street vendors

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RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR INTERVENTIONS: WATER SUPPLY, DRAINAGE AND SANITATION: Table 13 – Water supply, drainage and sanitation requirements

REQUIREMENT Water supply

REFERENCE REMARKS DCPR for A,B,C Class Municipal Council:  30.2.1_Table 15, 16, 17, (Pages 102, 103, 104)

Drainage  Land Drains  Ventilation pipes  Designing of a septic tank  Location and spacing of Drain Pipes  Individual dwelling requirements for drainage  Number of fixtures and specific fixtures for specific spaces in a design  Number of toilets in various categories of buildings Lighting and ventilation  Min. area of opening  Ventilation Shaft  Parapet walls Handrails

DCPR for A,B,C Municipal Council:  17.15.2  24.4.10

Class Specific to the interventions in the Temple Complex

DCPR for A,B,C Class Municipal Council:  31.2  31.3  Table 18 (Office)  Table 21 (Museums)  Table 26 (Hotels)  Table 27 (Restaurants)  Table 30 (Markets)

DCPR for A,B,C Class Municipal Council: and  17.12  Table 9 (Shaft sizes)

FIRE FIGHTING: Table 14 – Fire fighting requirements

REQUIREMENT Exit Requirements       

REFERENCE DCPR for A,B,C Municipal Council: Requirements  19.1 Types of Exits  19.2 No. and sizes of exits  19.3 Occupant load  19.3.2 Capacity of Exits  19.3.3 Doorways  19.4.1 and 2 Staircase requirements, fire  19.4.3 escape and external  19.4.4 staircases  19.4.6

REMARKS Class Mainly for the proposed Shopping area and housing for the EWS section in Scope 1 and 3

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Ramps, corridors and Refuge area  19.4.9 and 10  Lifts and Escalators Drainage  Land Drains DCPR for A,B,C  Ventilation pipes Municipal Council:  Designing of a septic tank  17.15.2  Location and spacing of  24.4.10 Drain Pipes

Class Specific to the interventions in the Temple Complex

Bus Terminal:  



In order to design or redesign a Bus terminal there are a set of design elements to be taken into consideration.

The current terminal has a few of the elements mentioned on the right, but they are not in a very good shape and require maintenance.

So the Bus stand in Scope 1 of Trimbakeshwar is nothing but a neglected structure with a small ticketing counter, drivers lunge and waiting area.

Figure 97

Space requirements: 





Public Seating: o As a general rule of thumb, according to the Time Saver Standards however, an allowance of one seat for every three passengers would be adequate for an intercity terminal. o The passenger quantity is calculated by multiplying the number of loading berths by an average bus capacity of between 35 and 37 people. o A 10-berth loading platform therefore (slight bigger than the proposed one on site), would result in terminal seating of about 117 to 124.

Ticketing Facilities: o In a bus terminal the ticketing facilities are usually in the form of continuous counters with a certain number of selling positions allocated. o The length of each position is determined by the type of electronic equipment, TV equipment, and scales to be housed and usually varies between 4 to 5 ft. o Hence the Ticketing Counter requires electrical switch boards at every station along with proper security for the collected amount.

Public Toilets: o Trimbakeshwar follows the rules from the DCPR proposed by the MRTP Act 1966 by the Urban Development Department. o So with reference to the Table 31 from page no. 119 of the MRTP document.

148 Table 15 – Toilet requirements

Parking facility (Ref: DCPR for A,B,C Class Municipal Council_16.0_Table 7,8) Required parking for the site: - 150 permanent - 250 to 500 floating

Public Toilet (DCPR for A,B,C Class Municipal Council Table 18) As the structures on the site for have no specific number of toilet requirements in the DCPR, the surrounding and proposed structures have been taken into consideration for deriving the number of toilets.

Temple Precinct:     

Retail shops and stalls Small seating and common spaces Ticket counter Queuing and Bag checking system Screens and Sensors for crowd management o Creative commons attribution 4.0 has proposed a platform for smart crowd management. The platform supports quick and flexible deployments of end-to-end applications for specific events or spaces that include four key functionalities:  Mobile phone based delivery of event/space specific information to the users,  participatory sensor data collection (from app users) and flexible analysis,

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     

location and situation specific message multicast instructing people in different areas to act differently in case of an emergency and  Post mortem event analysis. o Their paper describes the requirements that were derived through a series of test deployments, the system architecture, the implementation and the experiences made during real life, large scale deployments, etc. Thus, until today it has been deployed at 14 events in three European countries (UK, Netherlands, Switzerland) and was used by well over 100,000 people.

Spaces for tourists (DCPR for A,B,C Class Municipal Council_15.0) Sewage treatment plant for temple or ‘kund’ waste management (Septic Tank) (DCPR for A, B C Class Municipal Council_17.15.2) Decomposition plant for the Organic waste generated by the Temple (DCPR for A,B,C Class Municipal Council_22.5) Street Furniture Walkability of a street (DCPR for A,B,C Class Municipal Council_12.0, 13.0) Smart street design

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SITE 2: Community and Interpretation center:

Figure 98 – Site 2_Community and Interpretation center

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LOCATION:

Figure 99 – Site 2 Location map

The site covers an area of 34,000 sq.m. and is located in the south western corner of the site. It’s almost a plateau with a few contours, along the slope of the mountains. On its west is the biggest water body of Trimbakeshwar. On its west at the top of the mountain is the Ganga dwaar and on the east is Trimbakeshwar in the basin.

The site is located outside the town thus not adding to the already existing traffic problems. Also, there is a narrow path of dense tress that block the space between the site and the town. The locals can easily access the site as there are many secondary as well as primary roads leading to it. Also the highway coming from the parking space directly comes to the location which makes it easier for the visitors or pilgrims to travel to it. Ahilya dam and the mountains around the site give it a beautiful ambience.

Figure 100 – View of Site 2

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ELEMENTS: The following are the elements around the site:      

Ahilya dam MTDC Resort Ram Kund Ganga Dwaar Steps leading to the Ganga Dwaar Bhuvaneshwar Mandir

The map below shows the elements around the site:

Figure 101 – Elements around Site 2

Figure 102 - Steps to Ganga Dwaar

Figure 103 – Ram kund

Figure 104 – View of Trimbakeshwar from Ram kund

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ROUTES TO THE SITE:

Figure 105 – Routes to Site 2

The map shows the routes leading to and from the site. The darker maroon ones are the primary roads that go around the town thus avoiding all possible trafficked routes. The light brown ones are the roads passing through the town. The map is an indication that the site is neither too far nor too close to the site. All the roads pass by the temple complex. Also the site is very close to the residential zone of the town.

Figure 106 – Road that circumnavigates the town

Figure 107 – Road passing through the town

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LANDUSE:

Figure 108 - Development proposal for Site 2

The land use according to the development plan for Trimbakeshwar specifies the site as a sinhasta zone which is space fsor setting up tents during kumbha mela. But the sinhasta zone can be moved to the plateau regions in the north of the site as there are no specified regulation to change a kand use from sinhasta to recreational.

DESIGN INTENT: The surrounding area of the temple complex is usually chaotic, crowded and filled with people doing all sorts of activity. Also the queuing space inside the temple complex is crammed which makes the pilgrims feel much suffocated in the town. Multiple interviews of visiting pilgrims concluded that many of them feel the absence of a nice calm place where they can sit before or after visiting the temple.

Many pilgrims believe the beauty of a pilgrimage is in the serenity of it and many temple complexes do have spaces in it for pilgrims to sit and pray or chant mantras or simply relax. Also many pilgrims visit with their families and the kids start fussing after coming out the temple. They need something to do after coming out of the congested place and before getting in the vehicle to travel. An interpretation center with garden and museum would be just the thing for them.

Also many people wish to visit the Ganga dwaar but are unable to climb those thousands of stairs. A rope way would be a great way to allow these people to visit the top of the mountain. The rope way is completely feasible as per the development proposal submitted by the Trimbakeshwar government proposal. Trimbakeshwar is a town that works mostly on the revenue generated by tourism and a rope way would certainly increase the revenue. It will be another activity the pilgrims can enjoy during their visit and give a much better experience of the town.

Also the locals have no place to host function or for any recreational activities. They place mandaps on the open grounds in the village for weddings, engagements or any other functions. They could

155 really use a community center with a multipurpose hall for all these functions. The other fun games and activates in the community center will encourage the people to come there and spend time. This will also prove the town a much needed recreational space.

DESIGN BRIEF: Table 16 – Design Brief for Site 2

DESIGN SPACE

REQUIREMENTS

Interpretation Center Parking Entrance Lobby Reception area Waiting Area Museum Meditation hall Kids play Area Audio-visual room Storage Toilets Admin Area Toilets Amphitheatre Garden Play ground

100 cars 50 sq.m.

10 sq.m.

45 sq.m.

1500 sq.m.

150 sq.m.

25 sq.m.

30 sq.m.

15 sq.m.

20 sq.m.

30 sq.m.

10 sq.m.

300 sq.m.

450 sq.m.

100 sq.m.

Community center Parking Entrance Lobby Reception area Waiting Area Multipurpose Area Pre function Area Changing Rooms Toilets Cleaner’s room Storage Administration Office Managers Office (Attached toilet) Common Toilets Gym Community health facilities Information Technology Room Kitchen/ Pantry Cafeteria Swimming pool Changing Rooms

20 cars; 50 bikes 30 sq.m.

10 sq.m.

15 sq.m.

800 sq.m.

300 sq.m.

12 sq.m. each 30 sq.m.

9 sq.m.

15 sq.m.

25 sq.m.

10 sq.m.

25 sq.m.

250 sq.m.

200 sq.m.

100 sq.m.

75 sq.m.

300 sq.m.

150 sq.m.

20 sq.m. each

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Pump Room Storage

20 sq.m.

15 sq.m.

Rope way Start Point Parking Waiting Area Ticket counter Common toilets Queuing space Motor Room Landing Area/ Platform Administration Office Toilets

25 cars 25 sq.m.

10 sq.m.

15 sq.m.

45 sq.m.

30 sq.m.

250 sq.m.

30 sq.m.

20 sq.m.

End Point Landing Area/ Platform Motor Room Admin Area Queuing space Common toilets Ganga dwaar temple premises Queuing space for the temple Seating spaces Viewing deck

250 sq.m.

30 sq.m.

12 sq.m.

45 sq.m.

15 sq.m.

100 sq.m.

25 sq.m.

50 sq.m.

250 sq.m.

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158

SITE 3: The Housing for EWS Section: LOCATION:

Figure 109 – Site 3_ EWS Housing

159

ELEMENTS: This site has no varying elements, only houses of the locals of Trimbakeshwar who belong to the lower middle class and EWS section.

ROUTES TO THE SITE:

Figure 110 – Routes for Site 3

This zone was developed when the members of the lower caste were not allowed to live near the temple or the pandits’ houses. They started building houses on the other side of the main road. There is a 15m wide road, which is the primary road of the town from west to east. The secondary roads, the ones that is not more than 4m wide, they run perpendicular to the main road. As the area is contoured towards the north the secondary roads are sloped upwards from the primary main road.

They divide the area into vertical slots, which are in turn connected using tertiary roads. The teriary roads are streets less than 2m wide.

LANDUSE:

Figure 111 – Land use plan for Site 3

160

DESIGN INTENT: This zone requires affordable and sustainable housing for the current residents. The way it’s different from the rest of the town is that the residents do most of the work or other activities outside their houses. The streets are the hustle and bustle of the space. Apart from parking, one can see people chatting, reading newspapers, women doing some small work, etc. In the morning all the people are seen outside their houses cleaning or washing utensils.

Apart from that, the area also needs cost efficient housing system, that’s easy tu construct and cheap to maintain. The government also has proposed a redevelopment project for the 160 recorded residents in that area.

DESIGN BRIEF: Table 17 – Design Brief for Site 3

DESIGN SPACE

REQUIREMENTS

Common Spaces Parking Garden Small community hall Temple complex Play ground Nursery

10 cars 20 sq.m.

10 sq.m.

25 sq.m.

500 sq.m.

15 sq.m.

Each residence (Upper middle class) Verandah Washing space In built water storage tank Living Room Bedroom Toilet (X2) Master bedroom Each residence (EWS) Verandah Washing space In built water storage tank Living Room Bedroom Toilet Storage loft

30 sq.m.

25 sq.m.

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162

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All the maps have been taken from Google earth and Default Microsoft maps. Rest of the images are either duly cited or clicked by the author.