This book brings together essays by anthropologists, scholars of religion, and art historians to explore some of the most fundamental challenges that religious groups face as they expand from their homeland or confront the demands of modernity. The chapters span a broad geographical area that includes India, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, and China, and address issues from the classical and medieval period to the present. They show how sacred places have a plurality of meanings for all religious communities and how in their construction, secular politics, private religious experience, and sectarian rivalry can all intersect. 

A Buddha Dharma Kyokai Foundation Book on Buddhism and Comparative Literature.

Phyllis Granoff's profile page

Koichi Shinohara's profile page

Phyllis Granoff and Koichi Shinohara are both professors in the Department of Religious Studies at McMaster University. Neil McMullin is the general editor of Buddha Dharma Kyokai Foundation books, and professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Toronto.

Pilgrims, Patrons, and Place: Localizing Sanctity in Asian Religions is an important marker of the growing awareness in Asian Studies of the significance of ‘place’ as a productive analytical category ... This volume will play a useful role in the scholar’s library.

University of Toronto Quarterly, Winter 2004/05