ware of poverty, for even the poorest 
pilgrim will try to add to his store 
of merit by giving to others. Thus 
the beggars themselves are integral 
parts of the pilgrim scene, just as they 
are in many a tourist resort. There 
are also troupes of players, dancers, 
and musicians performing wherever 
they can find enough space, attracting 
large crowds of excited spectators. 
And of course there are other side- 
shows and even more secular forms 
of entertainment for the pilgrim ready 
to fall, temporarily, by the wayside. 
Such pilgrim centers are graphic 
examples of the same process of dy- 
namic fission and fusion, a kind of 
structured anarchy, that characterizes 
many tourist resorts. Most dharma- 
shala are open to all, regardless of 
class or caste or even of nominal re- 
ligious affiliation (I was as welcome 
in most Hindu dharmashala as Mus- 
lim and Buddhist pilgrims were), but 
in the larger and less remote centers 
there may be open discrimination, 
both regional and religious. It is a 
way of catering to those who wish 
to maintain a certain kind of ritual 
privacy and purity that is respected 
by others. And while some pilgrims 
are set apart, others who formerly had 
no unity are united. The pilgrimage 
encourages both the strict observance 
of orthodox rule and the relaxation 
of ritual regulations, and like tourism, 
it provides an opportunity for the open 
demonstration of extremes of both 
conservatism and free thought. Even 
at the shrine itself, where the pilgrim 
is reaching for his broadest identity, 
say, as a Hindu or as an Indian, there 
are ways in which he will be reminded 
of his equally vital but narrower loy- 
alties to region, caste, community, and 
clan. Some regions, for instance, main- 
tain at a center a resident priest (just 
as some maintain rest houses for mem- 
bers of their community only) who 
keeps a record of all pilgrims from 
his region, testifying to their sacred 
as well as secular allegiance. 
But in the act of worship all secular 
differences are momentarily banished, 
and all unite in the realm of the sacred. 
And an experience need not be mys- 
tical to have considerable social con- 
sequence. The performance of puja, 
or “worship,” the taking of a bath 
in the sacred tank, or hot spring, the 
sharing of consecrated food, these are 
all leveling devices. Afterward the dis- 
tance is restored, but it is one of dif- 
ference, rather than of superiority or 
inferiority. All this happens in any 
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17 
