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Tourism in India is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon rooted in both religious pilgrimage and colonial leisure patterns. It has been promoted for development by the Indian state and national governments and for profit by the global tourism industry. Although tourism can be a significant economic engine, it can also have profoundly pernicious effects: overdevelopment and environmental degradation, social and moral disintegration, and culture clashes among groups with differing values. Despite…

Haridwar is a Hindu pilgrimage site in Uttarakhand state, India. Its holiness arises from the belief that the Gaṅgā leaves the Himalayas there to enter the North Indian plain; since the region above Haridwar is the “Land of the Gods” (Devabhūmi), Haridwar is the place where the Gaṅgā descends to earth. Though one may dismiss this image as poetic fancy, the literal meaning of its various names clearly reveal its identity as a liminal place: Haridvār (“Gateway to Viṣṇu” as the departure point for …

As the rattletrap bus wheezed into Gangotri late on a June afternoon, several waiting men sidled up and asked the same question that they had asked previous arrivals: “Where are you from?” This is a common question throughout the world, but the questioners’ underlying purpose was business, not social. These men were …