Gaya Mahatmya

by Claude Jacques

The Gay? M?h?tmya belongs to the literary genre of the m?h?tmya, popular texts extolling the virtues of the many religious sites in India. Composed in Sanskrit, it praises Gay?, one of the famous centres of holy pilgrimage and amongst the oldest cited in the religious history of India. There exist several texts with the same name; the present publication, accompanied by a translation in French, presents the Gay? M?h?tmya of the V?yu-pur?n?a. The introduction describes Gay? and its pilgrimage today and afterwards deals with Buddhist (Pali canon, narratives of Chinese pilgrims) and Hindu (Mah?bh?rata, R?m?yan?a, Pur?n?a, medieval compilations in particular) sources as well as European documents (from the 18th century to the present day), thereby sketching the history of the holy place.