Pilgrimage and the Environment: Challenges in a Pilgrimage Centre more

Pilgrimage and the Environment: Challenges in a Pilgrimage Centre Kiran Shinde School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash Tourism Research Unit, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia Large scale movement of visitors during pilgrimages has a high potential to influence the environment in sacred sites. In traditional pilgrimage, environmental effects are governed by seasonality and are limited over time and space. This paper argues that significant changes in scale, frequency and character of such visitation over the past few decades reflect new pressures on the environment of sacred sites. Using a case study of the sacred complex of Tirumala-Tirupati, a popular pilgrimage centre in south India, this paper explores causal linkages between different factors that shape the environment in a pilgrimage centre. doi: 10.2167/cit259.0 Keywords: pilgrimage, environment, Tirupati, India Introduction Pilgrimage as a form of travel provides opportunities for people to visit sacred places and is a feature common to almost all societies. The key elements of pilgrimage are motivation, destination and journey. In a traditional religious pilgrimage, the pilgrim, driven by a strong religious or spiritual motivation accomplishes on foot, a long journey that is reinforced by a sense of renunciation of worldly matters. Once at the sacred site (temples or sacred objects), the pilgrim generally performs rituals in fulfilling the purpose for which such travel is taken, ‘seeing and being seen’ by the God (or the sacred) being one of the important acts. Though pilgrimage is primarily an individually motivated journey informed by personal faith, it also is a mass movement when viewed in terms of magnitude and frequency of such travel (Stoddard, 1997). Pilgrimage travel to pilgrimage centres is reported to have phenomenally increased in the past few decades due to increased accessibility and improvement in transport infrastructure. A large proportion of such journeys are motivated by ‘religious needs’ but exhibit touristic aspects (Gladstone, 2005; Rinschede, 1992) whereas many tourist journeys have an explicit spiritual component (Sharpley & Sundaram, 2005). The scholarly discussion on discerning similarities and differences between the two forms of travel, pilgrimage and tourism, that has dominated the literature (Cohen, 1992; Graburn, 2001; Smith, 1992; Smith & Brent, 2001), seem to be inadequate in explaining the nature of such travel. The recent interest in describing such contemporary travel to sacred sites (Nolan & Nolan, ˇ 1989; Vokunic, 1996) has led to proliferation of composite terms such as religious tourism, pilgrimage tourism, etc. (Rinschede, 1992; Santos, 2003; 1368-3500/07/04 343-23 $20.00/0 CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM # 2007 K. Shinde Vol. 10, No. 4, 2007 343 344 Current Issues in Tourism Singh, 2001; Tyrakwoski, 1994). However, comparative studies and anthropological studies that have dominated the pilgrimage (and tourism) literature have limited explanation on the implications of increase in contemporary pilgrimage travel on the sacred sites, environmental concern being one of them. Some discussion on the environment in sacred sites has only recently begun to surface (Shackley, 2001; Sofield, 2001; Tanner & Mitchell, 2002). The environmental issues are more significant in the Indian context, where more than 100 million Indians embark on pilgrimages each year (Times of India, 2001), thereby contributing largely to domestic tourism (Aramberri, 2004; Gladstone, 2005; Richter, 1989). The link between pilgrimage travel and the environment of pilgrimage centres has received little, if any, attention in the literature on either pilgrimage or the environment. Especially in the Indian context, a large body of literature on pilgrimage is primarily anthropological and discusses its religious, cultural, social and economic dimensions. A comprehensive review of much of this literature is provided by Morinis (1984) by presenting it in broad categories such as ethnographic, fragmentary or typological. While the functioning of pilgrimage as an industry is well documented (Caplan, 1997; Fuller, 1992; Parry, 1994; Van Der Veer, 1988), very few studies actually situate pilgrimage within the modern context and allude to the changes in pilgrimage and the pilgrims in India (Singh, 2004; Singh & Singh, 1999). Geographical studies have tended to focus on the distribution of pilgrimage centres (Bhardwaj, 1973), their historic role (Champakalakshmi, 1986) and the movement pattern of pilgrims (Rinschede, 1995), but offer little in understanding the impact on the environment. A few studies present compelling emotional accounts of environmental degradation in pilgrimage centres (Alley, 1994; Haberman, 2000; Kaur, 1985; Prime, 1992; Sullivan, 1998), but are limited by their focus on contrasting it with the mythological or historical image of the sacred site. Even in environmental studies, the implications of pilgrimage for sacred sites have not received the critical analysis that they merit. This, in part may be due to the late emergence of the field of environmental studies in India (Chapple, 1998, Gadgil & Guha, 1995) and the preoccupation of environmental studies with concerns of deforestation, rural environment and burgeoning urban problems and increasing pollution (Agarwal, 2000; Dwivedi & Khator, 1995; Gadgil & Guha, 1995). A low priority for environmental concerns in sacred sites may also be due to the belief that the deities will take care of all the problems in these sites (Shackley, 2001). While much environmental concern in India is rooted in religious and ethical values, it has not been systematically analysed in relation to sacred sites that are repositories of such knowledge. The discussion on the linkages between the environment and religion and religious practices is illuminating (Chapple & Tucker, 2000; Dwivedi, 2000; Nelson, 1998, 2000) but remains theoretical. Constructions of nature and environment through religious discourses have been another area of focus in many studies (Alley, 1998, 2002; Gold, 2000) that largely bring in the political dimension. Recent interest in monitoring and measurement of certain indicators of environmental degradation in pilgrimage centres is laudable (Nair, 2004; Trivedi & Agarwal, 2003), but the need to analyse the relation between pilgrimage and the environmental effects in pilgrimage centres seems to have been neglected. Pilgrimage and the Environment 345 This paper aims to investigate what factors influence the environment in a pilgrimage centre, how they interact and are responded to by various institutions. The ‘environment’ here refers to the definition of physical environment and follows the definition given in the Indian Environmental Protection Act of 1986 as including ‘water, air, and land and the interrelationship which exists among and between water, air and land, and human beings, other living creatures, plants, micro-organism and property’ (cited from Dwivedi & Khator, 1995: 56). The paper derives its findings from observations and fieldwork conducted in January 2002 during a pilgrimage to one of the most popular pilgrimage centre, the sacred complex of Tirumala-Tirupati in South India. More than 14 million people visited the pilgrimage centre of Tirumala in 2001. Pilgrimage and the Environment: The Indian Context Pilgrimage in its Indian expression, ‘tirtha yatra’, means ‘undertaking a journey to river fords’, and in common parlance refers to visitation to sacred places known as tirthas (Bhardwaj, 1973) that symbolise four connotations: a route, riverbank, sacred site and religious territory related to divine activities (Singh, 2006). A majority of pilgrim centres in India are closely associated with nature, their locations being near flowing water, mountaintops and forests (Bhardwaj, 1973; Morinis, 1992). People visit pilgrimage centres for two broad categories of reasons: spiritual pursuits and reasons of mundane existence. It is argued that pilgrimage is born of desire for solution to diverse problems arising from human engagement with the world, and the belief that such problems can be solved by superhuman or supernatural powers (Morinis, 1984; Tomasi, 2002). Darshana, the act of seeing and being seen by the god (or a religious authority), however, remains the key motivation in pilgrimage (Eck, 1982; Stanley, 1992). In line with such motives, pilgrims engage in ¯ certain rituals such as pradakshina or circumambulation (the clockwise circumambulation of a holy place or of several tirthas is believed to bestow religious ¯ merits), snana or the holy bath (an essential purificatory rite for all kinds of ¯ sacred performances), sacrifice, pinda-dan (offering of pindas, propitiatory rites to the manes at holy place as an obligatory ritual) and mahotsava (annual festivals and processions) (Saraswati, 1985: 21 –23). Many scholars provide insightful accounts of such rituals that are generally performed with the help of ritual specialists (Caplan, 1997; Fuller, 1992; Gurumurthy, 1995; Parry, 1994; Van Der Veer, 1988; Vidyarthi, 1961). However, these rituals are also subject to changes along with changes in modern pilgrimage travel and its commodification and commercialisation (Mohanty, 1995; Singh, 2002). Contemporary Indian pilgrimages, however, seem to have evolved in a form that is very distinct from the traditional one. Along with a substantial increase in the volume of visitors to sacred sites, qualitative changes are visible in the very essence of pilgrimage (Malik, 2001; Mohanty, 1995). The modern version displays more ‘tourism like’ characteristics including changing patterns of visits, limited engagement of visitors with rituals, commercial organisation typical to package tours, a particular way of marketing the destinations, and the consumerist behaviour of visitors (Gladstone, 2005; Guha & Gandhi, 1995; Singh, 2002). A large proportion of visitors to sacred sites have an 346 Current Issues in Tourism additional motive of getting away on holidays (Gladstone, 2005) and now visit sacred sites on holidays irrespective of the religious importance of time in performing pilgrimage (Shinde, 2003; Singh, 1997). This contextualisation helps in focusing on visitors as physical entities that have a great potential to impact the physical environment of pilgrimage centres in ways different from the traditional pilgrimages. It needs to be seen what happens to pilgrimage centres when they experience regular convergence of large numbers of such visitors. The environment in pilgrimage centres is influenced by the influx of visitors in many ways. These impacts typically include short-term peak demands exerting stress on basic services, accumulation of huge quantities of residuals (wastes), high levels of pollution and clearing of land (and forests in many places) for creating temporary accommodation facilities and amenities for pilgrims.1 Owing to the periodic and occasional nature of traditional pilgrimage, such environmental impacts are most likely to peak and then dissipate over time in and around the pilgrimage centres. This is illustrated in the example of Hemkunt Sahib, a Sikh pilgrimage centre situated in the mountainous region of Himalayas in north India that attracts more than 150,000 pilgrims during a period of four months in a year. During this time, problems such as accumulation of huge amount of non-biodegradable waste (plastic and glass cups, polythene etc.), water pollution (due to inadequate sewerage facilities), deforestation due to harvesting of firewood, and destruction of flora and fauna are reported (SHSST, 1999). Another problem relates to overcrowding, congestion and stampedes which usually get a lot of media attention.2 In the contemporary context, however, many of the short term problems accumulate and intensify with a constant influx of visitors. The complex repercussions that this has on the environment are determined by two factors. First, the magnitude and pattern of visitation and the nature of activities undertaken by the visitors (which may include both the religious and touristic aspects) are bound to have certain direct impacts. Many such environmental impacts are similar to those experienced by mass tourism destinations (Kaur, 1985; Singh, 2002). Second, frequent visitation generates a lot of economic opportunities in establishment of services such as hotels, restaurants, religious paraphernalia and souvenir shops, travel agencies and other businesses that cater primarily to visitors. Such demand for services leads to rapid urbanisation of the place (Mohanty, 1995; Rinschede, 1997). Since many pilgrimage centres have traditionally been small towns (Turner, 1973), rapid urbanisation brings in its own environmental pressures such as high stress on infrastructure by burgeoning population, loss of forests to real estate development, depletion of water supply, increasing traffic congestion and so on. This complex interaction is pursued in this paper through the case study of Tirumala-Tirupati sacred complex, a popular pilgrimage centre in south India. Study Area: Tirumala-Tirupati The sacred complex of Tirumala-Tirupati comprises of the twin cities of Tirumala and Tirupati. Tirupati is located about 130 kms from Chennai, in Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh in south India (Map 1). Tirumala has seven sacred hills, and one of the hills houses the shrine of Sri Venkateswara Pilgrimage and the Environment 347 Map 1 Location of study area: Tirumala-Tirupati or Balaji (as the presiding deity Vishnu is known) whose darshana is the most important attraction for pilgrims. Apart from its mythological and religious importance for Hindus, the deity is popular for its ‘wish fulfilling power’ and therefore attracts millions of visitors every year. The hill town of Tirumala functions as an exclusive pilgrimage centre while Tirupati at the foothills resembles an urban centre, though it retains its religious importance as a pilgrimage centre and has a number of Hindu shrines. As such they present two distinct environmental conditions; Tirumala situated atop the Tirumala hills primarily consists of forests, lakes, parks and small water reservoirs while Tirupati shows typical characteristics of an urban environment. Thus, it provides an interesting case study for articulating the pilgrimage–environment interaction because the near exclusiveness of Tirumala for pilgrimage implies that the environment in Tirumala may be directly influenced by a magnitude of visitation whereas in Tirupati, a multitude of activities may contribute to environmental issues. In 2001 about 14 million pilgrims visited Tirumala. Methodology This research uses an exploratory case study approach. Field visits were conducted in January 2002 and involved face-to-face interviews with local community and agencies that in some way engage with management of pilgrimage and included 13 government officials; 20 religious leaders; five representatives 348 Current Issues in Tourism from NGOs; eight experts on environment in the study area and five local community leaders. The environmental issues were discussed with the help of structured questionnaires and informal meetings. Observations were also made by participating in pilgrimage and its rituals and looking at towns’ infrastructure, temples, facilities and surroundings. The analytical approach taken here centres around three questions: (1) what kinds of factors shape the environment in a pilgrimage centre; (2) what is the effect of interaction between these factors on the environment and (3) what is being done to address the environmental outcomes. An introduction of some of the institutions that play a key role in pilgrimage and managing environment in Tirumala-Tirupati seems appropriate because much of the discussion that follows is based on interviews with officials/representatives from these institutions. Institutions in Tirumala-Tirupati Tirupati Municipal Office is the local administrative authority comprising of an elected body and an executive that looks after provision of the basic services in Tirupati town. Much of the land use and physical development in Tirupati is regulated by Tirupati Urban Development Authority (TUDA), a planning body established by the state government in 1981. The other relevant government agencies include the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) and the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC). Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) is a special purpose religious institution responsible for overall administration in Tirumala. It was first established in 1933 through the TTD Act to administer shrines at Tirumala and later reconstituted in 1951 as a charitable trust sponsored by the state government (TTD, 2002). It has an advisory board and an elaborate executive of more than 14,000 employees. Its primary purpose is to ensure facilities for darshana – the main purpose of visiting the temple – and provide accommodation and basic services for pilgrims and maintain shrines in the Tirumala Hills. It also regulates all the residential and commercial activities within the territory of Tirumala. Other activities of TTD include dissemination of knowledge about religion (Sanatana Dharma) and philosophy, traditional sciences (vedic vignana) and preservation of sacred texts by publishing journals and books, and organising religious discourses and cultural programmes. The main administrative offices of TTD sit in Tirupati. TTD also manages three shrines in Tirupati and provides a number of accommodation facilities for the pilgrims in its pilgrim lodges (choultaries) in Tirupati. More importantly it has been a key institution in developing most of the social infrastructure in the town such as hospitals, schools and community centres, and supporting the local population by providing direct and indirect income earning opportunities. As is the case with pilgrimage centres, many religious institutions are present in Tirumala-Tirupati too. In the Hindu religious system, two principal types of institutions exist; temples for religious worship and ashrams or mutts for imparting spiritual instructions and spreading religious knowledge (Shah, 1982). Tirumala has more than 30 ashrams and mutts but Tirupati has fewer ashrams. Pilgrimage and the Environment 349 Factors affecting the environment Two kinds of factors that are most likely to affect the environment in a pilgrimage centre include visitor flows and the urban growth of the place. Visitor flows Magnitude A constant increase in the number of pilgrims coming to Tirumala is clearly seen in Figure 1. The total numbers of pilgrims in Tirumala increased from about 700,000 to more than 15 million from 1951 to 2001; an increase of twenty times. This dramatic increase has been sustained since 1971. The data available for the past 15 years for visitors in Tirumala is represented in Figure 2 and clearly shows a distinct pattern of visitation. There seems to be a limited seasonality with significant peaks (þ20% to 30% average) in May (annual vacation of children) and October (Brahmotsavam festival), and significant troughs (214% to 220% below average) during February and December. A regular influx of visitors is clearly visible throughout the year; on an average there are about 1.2 million pilgrims every month; more than 40,000 every day. Figure 1 Number of pilgrims in Tirumala Figure 2 Monthly distribution of pilgrims in Tirumala (Based on data collected from TTD) 350 Current Issues in Tourism This number swells to more than 75,000 – 80,000 during the annual Brahmotsavam festival and during religiously important days in May.3 Since pilgrims pass through Tirupati town, many of them visit shrines in Tirupati also, though in fewer numbers. Roughly 4000– 6000 visitors are seen in the temples in Tirupati daily and the volume increases to more than 10,000 on peak occasions (estimates made by the author from records maintained at one of the temples). Figure 3 shows the relation between local population and the magnitude of visitation. A large number of visitors are seen persistently present in both the towns. Visitors in Tirumala regularly outnumber the resident local population by more than double. In Tirupati, more than a fifth of the people are visitors. It is this average daily visitor population that is of concern for the environment because of the demands that it puts on services and the waste and pollution that it is likely to generate. Duration of stay A survey conducted by TUDA in 1997 shows that average duration of stay of visitors in Tirumala is about two days and almost 90% of the accommodation in Tirumala is regularly occupied (TUDA, 1998).4 In recent times, a computerised queuing system has been introduced by TTD, in which pilgrims are given a computerised wristband (with a bar code) that displays the time of arrival of pilgrim and the time that the pilgrim is allotted for darshana. This facility has freed the visitors from waiting in long queues (in which a pilgrim had to wait for anywhere between 18 – 30 hours). With this free time, a visitor can now go site-seeing and therefore implicit is the potential for an increase in consumption of resources and an extra demand for services. Urban growth Urban growth in Tirumala-Tirupati presents an interesting case as charted in Figure 3. It shows that Tirumala rapidly grew from a small town of 3500 people in 1951 to 21,000 in 1981, with the annual rate of growth rate of about 16%. After 1981, the population growth seems to have stabilised, but this is due to forceful relocation and rehabilitation of residents from the Tirumala hills to Tirupati so the place could be exclusively developed for pilgrimage activity. As a result, the population declined to 17,000 in 1991 and only a marginal increase (0.4% growth rate which seems to be just the Figure 3 Population growth in Tirumala-Tirupati (Based on data from the Census of India, 2001) Pilgrimage and the Environment 351 natural birth rate) is seen in 2001 in Tirumala. However, this did not stop expansion of the habitable area in Tirumala, which increased from 2.2 km2 in 1961 to 4.2 km2 in 1971 and then to about 10 km2 with the implementation of the Master Plan (between 1976 and 1981). The later expansion was primarily due to construction of accommodation facilities for pilgrims by TTD. Though detailed information on land use development is not available, the trend of providing more accommodation and amenities for the increasing number of pilgrims is continued by TTD and is followed by some of the ashrams (Nagabhushanam, 1997a). Tirupati has been growing at a phenomenal pace; from a small town of 25,000 people in 1951 to a bustling urban centre with a population of 230,000 in 2001; almost a ten-fold increase. The dramatic increase is seen after 1981, when it started receiving residents from Tirumala as a part of the relocation drive. Since then, Tirupati has become the target for migration instead of Tirumala; more than 42% of the net increase in 1981 –1991 was due to migration. This is also in part due to the setting up of a social infrastructure (schools, hospitals, university) by the TTD, and in recent times to the opening of a new industrial estate in the vicinity of Tirupati (Nagabhushanam, 1999). However, economic opportunities provided by the increase in visitation to Tirumala-Tirupati, by far, seem to be the most important driver of migration. The town of Tirupati has expanded spatially from 3.82 km2 in 1951 to 32.1 km2 in 1991 with irregular urban extensions in all directions (Nagabhushanam, 1997b). A recent impetus to urbanisation comes from the designation of Tirupati as an urban complex for the surrounding region covering 89 fringe villages over an area of 500 km2 (TUDA, 1998). Influence of visitor flows is clearly reflected in the high proportion of local occupation in the tertiary sector (Nagabhushanam, 1999). It increased from 70% of the workforce in 1971 to more than 80% in 1991. TTD directly employs more than 14,000 people in its institutions and indirectly provides employment to about 23,000 people through its social institutions and investment in development of facilities and amenities for pilgrims (Nagabhushanam, 1997b). More than twice this number is engaged in trade, commerce and personnel services in pilgrim based activities. In some way or the other, it is the visitation that drives the economy and seems be doing quite well, generating a good amount of affluence. Inevitably, this contributes to a change in consumption patterns of local residents. The numbers of shops selling automobiles, consumer durables and electrical appliances such as refrigerators, televisions and computers, among other things, have substantially increased in recent times. Increase in the magnitude and frequency of visitation, rapid urban growth driven largely by such visitation and a new consumerist orientation are the interrelated factors most likely to shape the environment in TirumalaTirupati. Even a short term but high volume influx of visitors can easily be related to environmental problems, such as stress on basic services (water supply and drainage) due to the increased demand, and generation of huge volumes of waste. These problems become more critical when such visitation occurs on a regular basis (other than the occasional peaks) and tends to interact with the pressures of unplanned urban growth. 352 Current Issues in Tourism Effects on the environment The complex interaction between the above-mentioned factors seem to effect the environment through three interrelated processes: (1) stress on basic services, (2) increase in pollution and (3) degradation of natural resources. Stress on basic services Water supply Though water supply seems to be generally adequate in Tirumala, a severe water crisis is often reported in summer months and on peak occasions (The Hindu, 2001). In Tirupati, scarcity of drinking water is more acutely felt; water supply is grossly inadequate and is less than half of the suggested national standard (140 L per capita per day). Sewerage A well developed sewerage system helps in maintaining satisfactory sanitary conditions in Tirumala. However, disposal of wastewater is an issue because it finds its way into the natural ecosystem of the hills, especially during peak visitation due to malfunctioning of the sewage treatment plants. In Tirupati, owing to the inadequacy of the sewerage system in many area, open drains and soak pits are heavily used. This causes severe contamination of ground water; more than 60– 80% of the ground water is subjected to such contamination (Kotaiah et al., 1994). The infrastructure of public toilets and public conveniences is grossly insufficient in Tirupati and poses a major threat for public health. Foul smell and overflowing gutters around public conveniences are not uncommon during peak visitation. As such, in order to avert any epidemics of diseases, the local municipality resorts to spraying of pesticides and insecticides. Solid waste It can be estimated from the available data that about 0.6 kg per capita waste is generated in both the towns. This is much higher than the average daily waste generation of 0.36 kg per capita reported by Karthikeyan (1996) and this provides support for the observation regarding new consumerist attitudes with both the local residents and visitors. While the total waste generated in Tirumala (about 35 tons per day) is collected by TTD, its disposal is a challenge. Currently, it is dumped openly at a nearby landfill site which poses a high risk of contamination of the surface and underground in the fragile ecosystem of the hills. The relation between magnitude of visitation and waste generation is illustrated by a simple observation: everyday more than 20,000 coconuts are carried as waste; coconuts have a religious importance in certain rituals to be performed by the pilgrims at the temple. Usually the items required in worship of the deity are organic (and biodegradable) in nature and are able to decompose when dumped. However, with recent introduction of polythene bags in packaging many of these items and its ready acceptance by pilgrims (for the convenience), a large quantity of plastic waste is now going into landfill sites and this has serious environmental concerns for the hill ecosystem. Solid waste is a serious issue for Tirupati due to the local authority’s lack of resources for managing such waste. But more importantly, it is also because of the difficulty in distinguishing between the waste generated by visitors and the resident population. A large number of visitors stay in the town, eat and consume and add to the waste that is only periodically collected. No data is maintained by the local municipality except that in total about 145 tons of Pilgrimage and the Environment 353 waste is collected. The magnitude of the problem can only be guessed by observing public places, bus stations and in the vicinity of temples where, invariably, heaps of uncollected waste is always visible. However, these heaps are cleared just before the occasions of peak visitation. The fringe areas have the problem of waste being collected only sporadically; this indicates that the typical problems faced by any urban centre are evident in Tirupati too. Increase in pollution A major environmental problem evident in both Tirumala and Tirupati is severe air pollution that is largely due to increase in traffic density, directly related to visitation patterns (Srikrishna, 1994). Air pollution monitoring conducted by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB), in Tirumala-Tirupati in 2001 shows the average values of the total suspended particulate matter (TSPM), an indicator of air quality (pollution) to be far higher than the acceptable standards.5 In Tirumala, it mainly results from a high concentration of tourist vehicles. Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), the state run bus service, claims that during peak season, more than 1000 jeeps (the most common mode of travel) run round the clock and there is ‘one bus every minute’ to cater for pilgrims. An additional cause of congestion is regular movement of trucks that carry construction materials for building new facilities for visitors. In Tirupati, the traffic congestion is caused by mixing of tourist vehicles and vehicles owned by local residents. Vehicle ownership (mainly two-wheelers) has phenomenally increased in Tirupati in last few years (from about 3500 to more than 5000 in five years) and is comparable to any other urban agglomeration in India (for example in Delhi, the ratio of vehicle ownership is two vehicles per nine persons, in Tirupati it is one two-wheeler for every six persons). Other factors that contribute significantly to the congestion of traffic and therefore to air pollution in Tirupati include narrow roads, absence of pavements and parking areas and encroachments on roads by commercial and residential users (Nagabhushanam, 1997a; Srikrishna, 1994). Exploitation of natural resources Provision of facilities and amenities for pilgrims in Tirumala has come at the cost of exploitation of natural resources. Deforestation has been blatant in the past and building of dams in the hills for water supply has led to drying of water springs, canals and streams and also to a substantial loss of irrigation water for the rural areas downstream (Nagabhushanam, 1997b). A result is an increased rate of soil erosion and other problems typical to ecosystem imbalance as well as near extinction of the indigenous flora and fauna (Rao, J., personal communication, 2002). Apart from these indirect effects, increased visitation is also directly responsible for wildlife extinction in two main ways. First, provision of extensive lighting in the hills to improve visibility of access to the shrine has taken away the darkness that was otherwise critical for many animals for finding food. Second, the noise that is associated with periodic movement of pilgrims walking up to the shrine and frequent movement of vehicles drives away wildlife. TTD has attempted to ameliorate some of these environmental conditions through its massive forestation efforts, discussed in the next section. 354 Current Issues in Tourism Tirupati as it is does not show abundance of natural resources, for much of it has given way to the urban landscape. Whatever is remaining, especially the groundwater, is severely stressed. This is due to unauthorised occupation and encroachment of water bodies in and around Tirupati and impounding of waterways in the Tirumala hills. Groundwater levels in the 1970s were noted at 12– 20 m below the surface; it lowered to about 40 –55 m in the mid1990s and as a result increased failures of bore drillings have been reported in last five years (Nagabhushanam, 1997a). Environmental problems that are directly associated with the magnitude of visitor numbers are clearly visible in Tirumala. However, as the visitors mix with the resident population, as in the case of Tirupati, so do their environmental impacts and therefore it becomes extremely difficult to differentiate between causes of environmental problems. These are further complicated when, on the one hand the proportion of visitors steadily increases on a regular basis and on the other, the pressures of rapid urbanisation keep mounting, at least in part driven by the economic opportunities provided by regular visitation. The problem of overcrowding needs no special mention, it inevitably accompanies such magnitude of visitation. Response to the environmental effects The ways in which institutions respond to different pressures either exacerbate or ameliorate the environmental problems and further shape the environment. This section outlines responses by various institutions to environmental problems in Tirumala-Tirupati. One way to reduce the negative impact on the environment is by providing adequate infrastructure. This responsibility lies with Tirupati Municipal Office (TMO), as the local authority in Tirupati and with TTD in Tirumala. As is typical of authorities in growing urban centres in India, the TMO, with its limited resources struggles hard to cope with the mounting pressures of urbanisation in Tirupati. Even the primary need for basic services is wanting in many areas for numerous people. The municipality somehow is able to fulfil its obligatory duties of maintaining public hygiene by addressing problem of solid waste, which it is mandated to do according to the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment applicable to the local authorities. Basic services are not so strained in Tirumala for two reasons. First, a controlled population, especially of visitors needs to be catered for. Second, TTD is resourceful enough to provide adequately for all the basic services and is conscious of its responsibility to maintain the physical cleanliness of the place which is closely related to the sanctity of the place.6 Apart from motivating pilgrims not to drop litter, TTD diligently imposes and administers ‘on the spot fines’ for littering. TTD also makes arrangement for pilgrims during peak occasions by providing temporary accommodation (camping sites of a semi-permanent nature for about 15,000 – 20,000 pilgrims) and sanitation (it constructed more than 150 public toilets in 2001). Issues of degradation of natural resources in Tirumala hills are consciously dealt with by TTD in recognition of its responsibility to rectify some of the damage that it caused in expanding the facilities for pilgrims. It has a dedicated Pilgrimage and the Environment 355 forest department that engages in many environmental initiatives including various programmes of afforestation. A ‘bio-aesthetic’ plan has been implemented to restore vegetation on Tirumala hills since 1981, results of which are now seen; more than 4.4 million trees planted under the programme have helped to bring down the average temperature by 1.58C in last 15 years (NAEB, 1999).7 It launched the ‘Haritha’ (greenery) project in 2000 for afforestation, soil and water conservation covering an area of 2.95 km2 in Tirumala hills (TTD, 2002). In an effort to increase plantation on Tirumala hills, TTD administers many donation schemes for pilgrims. The principle can be illustrated from one such scheme, Vriksha Pravardhini that involves a donation of INR 100,000 (US$2250) by a single donor to sponsor the planting of 1000 trees in the sacred hills of Tirumala maintained by TTD for five years. In return the donor gets 100% tax exemption for the donation and their name to the plantation. More importantly, the donor plus five people are allowed free darshana of the deity through the special chambers of the temple once in a year for three days in a calendar year for five years (TTD, 2002). This incentive has a great value in terms of certainty of obtaining darshana, especially when the waiting time can be anywhere between a full day and two days. This innovative approach brings together both the religious and utilitarian aspects of pilgrimage in addressing environmental concerns. The religious dimension is more pronounced in the direct plantation by pilgrims; every year TTD plants about 50,000 saplings with the help of pilgrims and distributes plants (Tulsi: Ocimum sanctum) as sacred gifts to devotees in religious rituals (such as the Kalyanotsavam, a special ritual in worship of the deity). Environmental improvement is also achieved by TTD’s active support for some of the environmental programmes sponsored by the State Government such as the ‘Janambhoomi’ (Land of Birth) programme for distribution of plants to various institutions and the ‘Water Conservation Program’ in which small check-dams are built to help recharge the aquifer in the hills. TTD plays a major role in environmental awareness, especially by sponsoring establishment of eco-clubs in its educational institutions and the display of billboards at strategic locations that explain the importance of forests, environment, pollution and nature in the local language. Pollution is a relatively new area of concern that is not yet readily acknowledged and understood in Tirumala-Tirupati. Recently, TTD has initiated collaborative activities with the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board for developing air and wastewater pollution monitoring mechanisms in Tirumala-Tirupati (personal communication, APPCB, 2002). Institutions, other than the ones mentioned above, have a limited active engagement with environmental concerns due to their narrowly focused outlook and authority. Ashrams portray themselves as religious institutions but it is not inappropriate to say that they seem to have expanded only one of their traditional functions of being ‘spiritual retreats’ (Sharpley & Sundaram, 2005). A majority of ashrams resemble accommodation centres that provide services to pilgrims almost similar to hotels and are not far behind in consumption practices. Yet, they are too focused on their ‘religious’ role and therefore the environment is a low priority for them. A few ashrams 356 Current Issues in Tourism in Tirumala have begun to take interest in managing solid waste. They have joined with hotels in paying a contractor to collect and transport their waste to the landfill site. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have a limited presence in Tirumala-Tirupati. As such, the few NGOs working in the region focus on watershed management and rural development. Environmental problems of the sacred complex have not yet attracted their attention, but an initial interest is visible in the formation of a joint forum of these NGOs called the ‘Save Tirupati Campaign’. However, now local people have begun to realise the environmental problems associated with rapid urban growth in Tirupati that is devoid of basic infrastructure. A large section of the local population, generally, appears to be indifferent to the environmental degradation for at least two main reasons: it sees the government (and TTD) as the authority responsible for addressing such issues and second, it is more concerned with income opportunities from the visitors. Some of the environmental problems in Tirumala are ameliorated, thanks to TTD’s proactive efforts. However, the same problems are exacerbated in Tirupati due to a limited response by the local authority. The initiatives of TTD (though limited) in providing physical and social infrastructure in Tirupati reduces the financial burden on the municipality. But this also provides opportunities for it to dominate most of the decision-making in Tirupati, even in environmental matters. As such, focus on providing facilities for pilgrims is repeatedly reinforced rather than the issues faced by the local population. Another issue in Tirupati is the fact that there is no specific institution, apart from the local municipality, that engages in any meaningful environmental improvement. Sector specific government agencies such as the APPCB have limited authority over activities such as pilgrimage that appears to be contributing heavily to the pollution. Summary The case study shows that a complex interaction between the key factors of visitor flows and the urbanisation driven by regular visitor flows shape the environment in a pilgrimage centre. In Tirumala-Tirupati, a regular influx of visitors is visible throughout the year. As a result, the increasing demand for more accommodation facilities and amenities provides substantial economic opportunities that drive urbanisation in a major way. Thus, the environment in Tirumala-Tirupati is subjected to two interrelated pressures: direct pressures related to increasing visitor flows and indirect pressures of rapid urbanisation induced by economic opportunities from regular visitation. These pressures affect the environment in three interrelated ways: (1) stress on basic services (water supply, sewerage, and solid waste), (2) pollution (mainly air pollution) and (3) degradation of natural resources (forests, groundwater). The former two are almost directly related to the magnitude of visitation and therefore mitigated to a large extent in Tirumala by provisions of adequate infrastructure by TTD. The latter one especially related to the ecology of the hills, loss of biodiversity and nature conservation has become a priority now. In Tirupati, however, environmental issues are essentially urban in nature and include scarcity of drinking water, lack of sewerage facilities, solid waste, high contamination of groundwater and air pollution due to traffic congestion. These Pilgrimage and the Environment 357 problems are further exacerbated due to the competing demands of visitors and local residents. In line with the goal of promoting Tirumala-Tirupati as a Vatican city (Srikrishna, 1994; Tourism Futures, 1998), the focus of TTD has been to create more amenities and facilities on the Tirumala hills to attract and assemble more pilgrim tourists, though without much consideration to the carrying capacity of the town (Nagabhushanam, 1997b). Nonetheless, TTD as a dedicated institution has prevented any more environmental degradation in Tirumala and in many ways has ensured a good environment for the pilgrimage centre. Discussion The scenario of pilgrimage as an occasional mass movement and large congregations at pilgrimage centres on certain religiously important occasions is changing fast to more frequent visits by a large number of people. Though the infrequency and short duration of most festivals and special events creates temporary crowding problems, it has minimal potential for directly causing lasting negative effects (Getz, 1991). The same appears to be typical of traditional pilgrimages. The environment has a capacity and resilience to absorb occasional shocks of mega events by diffusing the impacts over time and space. However, regular and frequent visitation is more likely to cause a cumulative and recurrent effect that is sustained over the long term. This makes it difficult for the environment to recover its own capability and renders it vulnerable to degradation. Such a process, when coupled with increasing pressures of rapid urbanisation, forms a recipe for the inevitable environmental crisis. An increase in the volume of visitors causes the most visible transformations of the physical environment in pilgrimage places that are associated with natural features (Kaur, 1985; Singh, 2002; Singh & Singh, 1999). In order to avert such a crisis, then, it is important that measures are taken to diffuse impacts of pilgrims in some way. Pilgrimage centres that continually experience frequent and large magnitude of visitation show a constant population growth, even if they are located in places far from urban centres (Rinschede, 1997). The process of urbanisation that accompanies such visitation (in which secularisation and commercialisation is evident) occurs in two ways. First is the squatting of migrants that come to explore livelihood opportunities. This generally occurs in the peripheral areas and is largely blamed for contributing towards environmental degradation, encroachments and erosion of religious ambience (Dube, 1994; Nagabhushanam, 1997a). Second is the building of hotels and other tourism related facilities and establishments in direct response to the demands of visitors for accommodation and services, also reflecting the characteristics of visitors (Mohanty, 1995). This type clearly shows the degeneracy of the sacred landscape into a profane ‘property related development’ which means that the ethical values that emphasise ‘religious and sacred’ significance of the environment may no longer work. This also implies that the need to protect it is secondary to the urban needs. Melwani captures such changes in the nature of the built 358 Current Issues in Tourism environment: ‘[M]ajor hotel chains are coming into these holy cities and proving that the path to heaven doesn’t have to be uncomfortable or dusty’ (Melwani, 2001; no page). Citing a report in India Today (a monthly magazine) about investments in real estate development in pilgrimage centres of Haridwar-Rishikesh, Melwani further notes: Developers have constructed over 200 upscale apartment blocks, and many more are under construction . . . . Shivalik Ganga Estates in Haridwar uses the tag line: “Peace Unlimited. Plots Limited.” Prices are upward bound – an apartment on the riverfront, which sold for US $25,500 four years ago, now fetches $53,200. These luxury apartments may cost a bundle, but certainly the path to finding God was never easier! (Melwani, 2001, no page). In essence, with urbanisation, comes a range of environmental problems that directly or indirectly aggravate with an ever increasing number of visitors (Dube, 1994; Srikrishna, 1994). Another factor that determines the environmental outcomes in sacred places in an indirect but a strong way, is the pressure of rising consumerism among the visitors and local residents. In spite of their ‘religious and sacred’ value, the pilgrimage centres are not untouched by consumerism. Today, a large proportion of visitors prefer to travel in private or hired cars, stay in hotels, eat in restaurants and in essence consume the landscape. For many, such a visit is ‘getting away’ and invariably such visitors carry their urban consumptive orientation to these places. This hedonistic movement is very different from the traditional pilgrimages in which the hardships and renunciation of material comforts were the hallmark of a sacred journey. The likely impacts of such a movement may resemble the impacts of mass tourism (Kaur, 1982; Singh, 2001, 2002). A typical case in point is the travel of a particular category of visitors that has emerged in Tirumala-Tirupati. Builders and developers from different parts of India travel to the shrine of Tirumala (irrespective of the religion or place that they belong to), because they believe that offering a partnership to the deity in their real estate development projects will lead to success of their venture. Their demand for better services is not surprising considering their material wellbeing and background. In a similar vein, the environmental impact that the increasing travel of the emerging middle and elite classes in India may have on sacred sites can only be speculated on if one goes by Melwani’s observation, ‘[D]evotion, introspection, family bonding and vacation fun are all part of the modern Hindu’s travels to the holy sites in India’ (Melwani, 2001, emphasis added). For the local residents, easy income from pilgrim based services, at least in part, changes the consumption pattern (more income means more consumption), as is clearly illustrated in the increasing vehicular ownership. The negative impacts of increase in consumption on the environment are already well known (Gadgil & Guha, 1995). The way environmental problems are responded to is not different in a pilgrimage centre from an urban centre, unless there is an institution/authority such as the TTD dedicated to the cause of pilgrimage. It is only then that a proactive approach to environmental management seems possible. Pilgrimage and the Environment 359 Otherwise, when the pilgrimage centre also happens to be an urban centre (as is the case with a large proportion of sacred sites in India), the focus of local authority is divided amongst demands of visitors and needs of locals. Generally, the local authorities see pilgrimage as an occasional event and manage it accordingly by providing temporary accommodation and sanitation facilities for pilgrims, with almost no thought towards improving environmental conditions (Shinde, 2004). They fail to recognise the regularity of the modern pilgrimage movement and the seriousness of the environmental impacts that it is likely to cause. Even when they acknowledge this, their limited capacity and authority restricts them from utilising their resources in coping with burgeoning urbanisation problems. Pilgrimage means an additional burden administratively, because the local authority has to provide services for the visitors even if it does not receive any benefits from them. The National Tourism Policy, in recognising such issues of added responsibility towards visitors, places a special focus on the engagement of stakeholders in the management and promotion of tourist destinations (DST-FICCI, 2002). This position can be extended to include pilgrimage centres, as is argued in some states in India such sacred sites also act as tourist attractions (especially Gujarat and Rajasthan). For a meaningful environmental improvement in pilgrimage centres, then, it is necessary to augment the resources of local authorities or install additional institutional mechanisms. The nature of environmental problems associated with pilgrimage calls for involvement of stakeholders such as religious institutions in environmental management on at least two premises. First, functionally, they engage in some way in the management of pilgrimage. Second, on the ethical and religious basis that has always solicited reverence for nature and its protection (Chapple & Tucker, 2000; Nelson, 1998; Prime, 1992). Even though TTD’s work in environmental protection and conservation seems only remotely inspired by religious values (and more driven by financial resources, facilities and the available infrastructure), it does pave way for a meaningful realisation of the links between religious values and ecology through some of its activities such as tree planting schemes that are infused with religious meanings (Mohanty, 1999; Shinde, 2004). Similar approaches can be seen in the initiatives of institutions established by pilgrims, such as the Sri Hemkunt Sahib Seva Trust that manages waste in the Himalayan shrine of Hemkunt Sahib (SHSST, 1999), religious gurus such as the Sankat Mochan Foundation (SMF) in cleaning up the Ganga River (Alley, 2002; Gardner, 2002), and individual religious leaders (Agarwal, 2000; Haberman, 1994). Conclusions Travel to pilgrimage centres has become more frequent due to increased accessibility and availability of transport (Bhardwaj, 1973; Gladstone, 2005; Richter, 1989; Singh, 2004). As a result, pilgrimage as an institution at the interface of religion, travel and tourism has changed in its traditional form in India. Such movement in pilgrimage centres seem to be evenly distributed over time rather than the peaks that were observed during annual religious 360 Current Issues in Tourism events in traditional pilgrimages. The heightened visitation and the resulting economic opportunities seem to drive the inevitable rapid urbanisation of pilgrimage centres (Mohanty, 1995; Rinschede, 1997). These two interlinked factors related to pilgrimage activity shape the environment through direct impacts of the magnitude of visitors, and indirect pressures of pilgrimage induced urbanisation. Environmental impacts in traditional pilgrimages are most likely to dissipate over time and space, but tend to recur, intensify and accumulate from frequent visitation. It is easy to discern the two environmental outcomes in the case study of the Tirumala-Tirupati sacred complex. Tirumala, as an almost exclusive pilgrimage centre, exhibits typical environmental problems related to magnitude of visitation such as the increased problems of disposal of solid waste and waste water, constrained water supply, overcrowding, rampant deforestation and high levels of pollution (Nagabhushanam, 1997a; Prime, 1992; Sullivan, 1998). In places where it is difficult to distinguish between types of visitors (pilgrims or tourists) and the locals (Bhardwaj, 1997), such as Tirupati, the interaction between the environmental impact of visitors, locals and pressures of urbanisation is closely interlinked and difficult to isolate (Srikrishna, 1994; Trivedi & Agarwal, 2003). The institutional response in mitigating some of the environmental problems, especially by TTD, points toward two related aspects. The first is the need to acknowledge pilgrimage as a regular feature and respond to the environmental problems associated with it by establishing institutional mechanisms. Second, religious institutions which are directly engaged in pilgrimage activity also need to shoulder some environmental responsibility to reduce the burden on government authorities, which struggles to provide basic services to their own constituency. Such complexities of environmental issues are likely to increase where the pilgrimage centre and the staging point are the same, as is the case with hundreds of pilgrimage centres in India. Using visitor flows and urbanisation as major determinants of environmental impacts seems to be useful in analysing and exploring the environmental dimensions in pilgrimage centres. Environmental issues are, however, influenced by many other aspects such as visitor behaviour, performance of rituals and awareness of visitors in understanding the link between religious discourses and the environment, and the local population itself; these aspects need a detailed attention. It is also important to note that there is a lot of difference between responses by different agencies working for environmental improvement (Alley, 2002). Environmental value or concern does not seem to affect the spiritual magnetism of pilgrimage centres and as such there is no evidence of decline in the popularity of pilgrimage centres due to environmental problems (Alley, 1998; Haberman, 2000; Sullivan, 1998). However, it is highly likely that for a majority of visitors, especially those whose visits to pilgrimage centres are multifunctional, the physical environment may influence mental, emotional and spiritual experiences. Acknowledgements The author acknowledges the support and guidance of Dr Willi Zimmermann, Dr Walter Jamieson and Dr Edsel Sajor in this research. Pilgrimage and the Environment 361 Thanks are also due to all the institutions and persons that have helped in accomplishing the fieldwork, particularly officials at TTD, TUDA and Tirupati municipality and many intellectuals including Mr Mynaswami, Dr Jagdishwara Rao, Professor G. Ramprasad, Professor N. Nagabhushanam and Mr B. G. Naidu. The generous grant for the research was provided under a RUDO-USAID scholarship. Correspondence Any correspondence should be directed to Kiran Shinde, PhD Candidate, School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, Building 11, Clayton Campus, Wellington Road, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia (kiran.shinde@arts.monash.edu.au). Notes 1. In one instance, Pamba River running close to the pilgrimage centre of Sabrimala in south India has shown levels of E. coli at 95,000 per 100 mL as against permissible limit of 500 which is largely due to the presence of human excreta that clogs the river along with plastic bags and bottles and coconut husks (E. coli is the measure used to indicate pollution; more than 5 million pilgrims visit Sabrimala every year) (Nair, 2004). 2. For example, more than 40 people died and 250 were injured in a stampede due to fire in Tanjore in 1997 (Kashinatha, 1997), 53 people died in a stampede at Sabrimala in 1999 (Krishnakumar, 1999). 3. Tirumala is also a venue for celebrating important sociocultural occasions such as marriages; more than 300 marriages take place every month in May (peak season). 4. TTD is the main provider of accommodation with facilities of more than 49,000 beds in Tirumala. 5. The average TSPM values recorded were 215 mg/m3 and 210 mg/m3 in Tirupati and Tirumala respectively. These values are more than twice and thrice of the permissible limits set as state standard (100 mg/m3) and the national standard (70 mg/m3) for religious and sensitive places. 6. TTD receives a majority of its income from offerings made by the pilgrims at the shrine. Its budget in 2000– 2001 was INR 3424 million (US$ 85.6 million). In 2001, TTD was spending about INR 10 million (US$ 250,000) per month on solid waste management in Tirumala, whereas TMO spent only about INR 2.3 million per month in Tirupati on solid waste management, about one fifth. 7. The Bio-Aesthetic Plan has received many awards such as the ‘VrikshaMitra’ (Friend of Tree) award from the Indian Government in 1990, and the Merit of Excellency award from the University of Colombo in 1997. References Agarwal, A. (2000) Can Hindu beliefs and values help India to meet its ecological crisis? In C. Chapple and M.E. 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