The Bridge to the Three Holy Cities: The Samanya-praghattaka of Narayana Bhatta’s Trishalisetu

The Bridge to the Three Holy Cities: The Samanya-praghattaka of Narayana Bhatta’s Trishalisetu

In the Hindu tradition, the study of holy locations and pilgrimages to such places is considered to be a sub-field of the Dharmasastra. This sub-field is known as tirtha. The “Bridge to the Three Holy Cities” (also known as “Tristhalisetu”) of Narayana Bhatta, which was composed in Varanasi in the 16th century A.D., is regarded as the canonical and most authoritative work of the extensive tirtha literature. It was authored by Narayana Bhatta. The book is divided into four parts, but only the third, fourth, and final parts were included in the Anandasrama version that came out in 1915. The first, or “General,” Section of the Samanya-praghattaka, which was not included in that edition, discusses the concept, definition, and distinguishing characteristics of tirthas, and prescribes in detail the procedures and practises of a pilgrimage. However, this section was omitted from that edition. Both a critical edition of the text of the Samanyapraghattaka as well as a translation that has been annotated are included in this book. The practise of making pilgrimages is an important part of Hinduism, and this literature provides a variety of knowledge relevant to that subject.A

Author

Richard Salomon

About the Author(s)

In the year 1948, Richard Salomon was born in the city of New York. Presently, you may find him working as an Assistant Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Washington in the United States. He attended Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania for his Sanskrit studies, and in 1975 he was awarded the degree of Ph.D. with distinction from the University of Pennsylvania. He has worked as a researcher at Calcutta University, the University of Chicago, and Visvabharati, in addition to teaching Sanskrit at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Washington (Santiniketan). He is the author of a number of articles and monographs that cover topics such as the language and literature of Sanskrit and Prakrit, Indian epigraphy, Paleography, and numismatics, and the history of ancient India.