Q1.
Can you identify the names of a few traditional tīrthas given in the map above? You can refer to the political map at the end of the book for help.
Answer
The map carries no place names — only symbols, joined by lines. So the task is to read each symbol's position against a political map. The legend gives eight keys: International Boundary, Shakti Pīṭhas (red triangles), Jyotirlingas (dark-blue triangles), Chār Dhāms (light-blue triangles), Kumbh Mela Sites (orange triangles), Sikh Sites (yellow circles), Buddhist Sites (pink squares) and Jain Sites (purple diamonds).
Working symbol by symbol, these tīrthas can be identified with confidence:
| Symbol | Position on the map | The tīrtha |
|---|---|---|
| Chār Dhām | Uttarakhand Himalaya, about 30½°N 79°E | Badrinath |
| Chār Dhām | Odisha coast, about 20°N 86°E | Puri |
| Chār Dhām | Saurashtra coast, about 22°N 69°E | Dwarka |
| Chār Dhām | Southern tip, about 9°N 79°E | Rameswaram (also a jyotirlinga — the two triangles sit together) |
| Kumbh Mela | Where the Ganga leaves the hills, about 30°N 78°E | Haridwar |
| Kumbh Mela | Ganga–Yamuna confluence, about 25½°N 82°E | Prayagraj |
| Kumbh Mela | Malwa, about 23°N 76°E | Ujjain (also the Mahakaleshwar jyotirlinga) |
| Kumbh Mela | Northern Maharashtra, about 20°N 74°E | Nashik (Trimbakeshwar jyotirlinga alongside) |
| Jyotirlinga | Just west of Badrinath in the Uttarakhand hills | Kedarnath |
| Jyotirlinga | Cluster on the Narmada and in western Maharashtra | Omkareshwar, Bhimashankar, Grishneshwar, Aundha Nagnath |
| Sikh site | Punjab, about 31½°N 75°E | Amritsar (Golden Temple / Akal Takht); Anandpur Sahib is the mark to its east |
| Sikh site | Middle Ganga plain, about 25½°N 85°E | Patna Sahib |
| Sikh site | Marathwada, about 19°N 77°E | Nanded (Hazur Sahib) |
| Buddhist site | Eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Nepal border | Sarnath, Kushinagar, Lumbini/Kapilvastu |
| Buddhist site | Bihar, about 24½°N 85°E, and central India | Bodh Gaya; Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh |
| Jain site | Southern Rajasthan and Saurashtra | Mount Abu; Girnar and Śhatruñjaya (Palitana) |
| Jain site | Jharkhand, about 24°N 86°E, and southern Karnataka | Shikharji (Parasnath); Shravanabelagola |
| Shakti Pīṭha | Kolkata, Guwahati, Kanyakumari, Kangra, and dozens more | Kalighat, Kamakhya, Kanyakumari, Jwalamukhi … |
Check it yourself: use the political map at the end of the book and read off latitude and longitude for each symbol before naming it — that is exactly the skill the question is training. Where a red triangle stands alone in an area you cannot identify, it is enough to say “a Shakti pīṭha in this state”.
What the map is really showing: not a list of names but a pattern. The lines join sites of every tradition into networks that cross each other again and again, so that no part of the Subcontinent is left outside. That pattern is the chapter's whole argument in one picture.