Abstract

Shaligram pilgrimage is both a macrocosm of Shaligram practice and a microcosm of life itself. Mobility is, however, at the core of all aspects of veneration. Shaligram pilgrimage then offers a glimpse into the methods by which people come to identify with certain places, regardless of whether or not they live in those places or have ever visited them before. It also offers insight into how marginalization, militarization, and economic challenges in Mustang have had significant effects on both Shaligram practices throughout South Asia and the world. Furthermore, due to the plurality of sacred spaces in physical locations, such as happens through the dham , Shaligrams become capable of being both from a place and carrying that place with them.

Keywords: pilgrimage, mobility, Mustang, Muktinath, landscape

“There's a place that I travel, when I want to roam

And nobody knows it but me.

The roads don't go there, and the signs stay home

And nobody knows it but me.

It's far far away and way way afar, it's over the moon and the sea.

And wherever you’re going, that's wherever you are,

And nobody knows it but me.”