Eleventh International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Traditional pilgrimages often involve travel from one place to another in search of the sacred, in order to experience and embody it. I begin with a basic question about what it may mean for people with disabilities, particularly those with significant mobility impairments, to perform pilgrimages. Examining this could not only generate insights about how non-normative and marginal bodies may be understood in the context of religion, but it could also illuminate how religious faith for those with dependencies embed and include those closest to the person through ties of dependency and care. The sheer physicality and sometimes arduousness of a journey that the pilgrim makes could be physically exhausting, more so for the disabled. Using qualitative interviews with disabled pilgrims, I describe their motives, practices and experiences of the pilgrimage- why they do and what they expect out of it. Finally, I also present a case study, based on my fieldwork, of an ‘all disabled’ Jain pilgrimage, organised through support from volunteers who accompany the pilgrims and assist them in performing various rituals throughout the fifteen day pilgrimage from Mumbai to Palitana in the state of Gujarat. More generally my paper throws light on the crucial linkages between disability and religion which is an integral part of the social context in which people with disability live their lives.