Pilgrimage, Thresholds, and Sacred Geographies of Death

In this chapter, we theoretically explore the heritage of death and the interconnections of death-related rituals in the context of sacred geographies in South Asia. We focus on pilgrimage associated with death using the theoretical concept of thresholds and explore its symbolic manifestations and wider metaphorical meanings. The spatial, temporal, and symbolic manifestations of thresholds reveal that several eschatological rituals and practices in South Asia, both mainstream and vernacular, revolving around elements of death and the afterlife, can be understood using the concept of thresholds. Thresholds are symbolically revealed in different ways—as places of pilgrimage, as specific symbols and markers in sacred landscapes, and as rituals.