Richard Salomon

The study of holy places and pilgrimages to them is treated in the Hindu tradition as a sub-field, called tirtha, of the Dharmasastra. The Tristhalisetu or “Bridge to the Three Holy Cities” of Narayana Bhatta, written in Varanasi in the 16th century A.D., is recognized as the standard and most authoritative text of the voluminous tirtha literature.