Question

Sociology significance of pilgrimages and festivals 3000 words

Answer 1

As India is liberalizing and globalizing its economy, the country is experiencing a rise in
spiritual market. There is a surge in popular religiosity among the masses as is evident
from a boom in pilgrimage and invention of new and more ostentatious rituals. Jeremy
Carrette and Richard King (2005) argue convincingly that a consumer capitalist mentality
has thoroughly penetrated the world religions. Spirituality has become a commodity on
the global market with a wonderful range of options from Zen meditation classes to Shri
Shri Ravi Shankar’s sudarshan kriya.
Commodification of religion refers to the process whereby religious symbols are turned
into objects/ commodities which can be sold and consumed in the market. The market
here refers to the temples and other pilgrimage spots. Besides, the religious commodities
have found new homes in swanky new suburbs with malls and multiplexes. It is a process
of recontextualization of religious symbols, language, and ideas from their original
religious context to the media and consumer culture (Ornella, 2013). Through the
purchase of such objects of consumption (for instance, religious figures, books, chaddar
and other artifacts) the devotees can offer their prayers and reverence to the Gods.
Ironically, this also points towards the commercial side of religion. How religion and its
commodification process are controlled by economic interest can best be illustrated from
a common phenomenon in temples: pay- for- prayer schemes. Many a times, the better
offs would donate gold or expensive religious gift (say for instance, an idol figure) to the
temple as part of their more ostentatious expression of devotion and get ‘special’
blessings from the priest.
It is commonly observed that weddings, funerals, birthdays, festivals and any number of
daily and calendrical rituals are ‘crowded’ with colorful religious things. The devotees
also attach religious/ sentimental values to such consumer commodities like religious
idols or sacred books. The consumption of material objects appears to be integral to
pilgrimage rituals and transforms the intangible spiritual experience of the pilgrims into
something 'palpable'. The gifts are intended to embody the sacredness of the sites visited
by the pilgrims and allow family and friends to partake in their sacred experience
(Moufahim, 2013). Such trading of a set of material objects as commodities, which are
ultimately consumed as ritual objects by individuals, is the result of not only festivals and
pilgrimages but also marketization of the sacred by government (Nanda, 2009).
The purpose of this module is to study role of the market in advertising the importance of
rituals, pilgrimages and religious festivals. Further, the process of commodification of
religion accentuated by deeper penetration of the market and growing capitalism shall
also be discussed. Capturing the details of different aspects of religious economy is the
aim of this module. The first section talks about growing commercialization of the
religion, the second about sociological relevance of religion to understand
commodification process in a better way, the third about the influence of capitalism upon
marketisation of sacred and finally a discussion on repercussions