Crafting Myths in Modern Times: Essentialising Duty, Obligation and Exchange in Religious Tourism

Authors

Anuja Jose, Independent ScholarFollow
Vinita Chandra, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), VaranasiFollow
Uday Pratap Singh, Independent ScholarFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

0000-0002-1099-5123

0000-0002-2391-9277

0009-0001-5120-0876

Abstract

This paper aims to study the factors that contribute to the success of present-day myths in religious tourism. It also seeks to investigate the factors that compel modern pilgrims to accept a certain myth and the role played by stakeholders of religious tourism in the creation of a myth. In order to explore these research questions, Kauḍī Mātā temple in Varanasi, a popular religious tourist spot for Southern Indians, was chosen for Case Study. Qualitative data have been generated through in-depth interviewing. Simultaneously, several myths of goddess Kauḍī Mātā were recovered from textual and digital sources in addition to the primary data generated from respondent interviews. From the analysis and coding of data, it has been found that the stakeholders of religious tourism vehemently employ ‘duty’ and ‘obligation’ within the narrative of modern myths in order to sustain and enhance religious tourism. Moreover, it has also been found that the stakeholders of religious tourism such as tourist guides, travel agencies, media, cult figures etc. who may not be directly associated with the religion need to be considered as agents who design myths in order to sustain religious tourism.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Jose, Anuja; Chandra, Vinita; and Singh, Uday Pratap (2025) "Crafting Myths in Modern Times: Essentialising Duty, Obligation and Exchange in Religious Tourism," International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage: Vol. 13: Iss. 1, Article 9.
Available at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ijrtp/vol13/iss1/9