yatra

English

Alternative forms

• Yatra
• yaatra

Etymology

• From Sanskrit यात्रा.

Noun

yatra (plural yatras)

1. A Hindu pilgrimage.
   • 1999, Thomas Blom Hansen, The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India^[1], Princeton University Press, ISBN 9780691006710, page 261:

     Thousands of activists and vehicles therefore diffused quietly out of Delhi in the following days to reassemble in a yatra that now swelled to 40–50,000 people.

   • 2002, John Ittner, Lighting the Lamp of Wisdom: a Week Inside a Yoga Ashram^[2], SkyLight Paths Publishing, ISBN 9781893361522, page 80:

     By calling this little stroll a yatra I am making a mild joke to myself, because in India a yatra can be a grueling expedition such as a hike to the top of Mount Kailas in the Himalayas.

   • 2005, Christian Strümpell, “Forts and Camps in Tribal Orissa: Kshatriyaization and Industrialization Compared”, in Georg Pfeffer editor, Contemporary Society: Identity, Intervention and Ideology in Tribal India and Beyond^[3], volume 7, Concept Publishing Company, ISBN 9788180695346, page 71:

     At the inauguration of this temple a yatra for her was performed attracting again a big part of Chatamput's mostly female inhabitants, who all claimed that Kondamakalamma now is the "real" goddess of the village.

   • 2006, Ritual and Identity: Performative Practices as Effective Transformations of Social Reality, volume 8, LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster, ISBN 9783825880422, page 287:

     I thus wonder whether the yatra was not primarily "efficient" for the upper middle classes who - physically removed from direct participation - enjoyed the BJP going on a yatra, presenting them with ready-made edutainment about nationality, easy to digest, without much physical and mental effort.