Document Type
Article
Source of Publication
Religions
Publication Date
5-10-2023
Abstract
Braj is a sacred place revered by Bengali Vaishnavas, followers of the bhakti sect of Vaishnavism, one of four branches of Hindu devotion. Followers of the sect worship the God Krishna, who it is believed manifested in Braj and carried out many divine feats and activities that are imprinted onto the land. Braj today is dotted with thousands of holy shrines, temples and natural places connected to Krishna. Devotees connect to Krishna through the landscape of Braj; it is where the transcendental and the physical realms meet. Braj has been transformed in a multitude of ways with the influx of money from Western sources, commercial enterprises and developers that wish to modernize and commercialize it for the new religious consumer. New infrastructure, condo developments and other changes illustrate both the challenge and the promise of modernity. This paper examines how these transformations are impacting the region of Braj.
DOI Link
ISSN
Publisher
MDPI AG
Volume
14
Issue
5
First Page
643
Last Page
643
Disciplines
Religion | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Keywords
sacred landscapes, cultural heritage, Hinduism
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Taneja, Leena, "Losing and Finding Braj: Commodification and Entrepreneurship in the Sacred Land of Krishna" (2023). All Works. 5866.
https://zuscholars.zu.ac.ae/works/5866
Indexed in Scopus
no
Open Access
yes
Open Access Type
Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series