The verdant and beautiful Kerala, well known for its flora and fauna and for its rich tradition of temples, has today become one of the must see destinations in the world. Temples have always been an integral part of the culture and tradition of Kerala. This small state has become famous for its efforts to preserve the ancient culture of the big temples as well as the small family shrines, keeping their rich variety and tradition intact. These temples play an important role in spreading the greatness of Kerala in countries all over the world. Temples of Kerala have never been mere places of worship; they have played a pivotal role in the social, financial, cultural and educational fields of the state. For the rehabilitation of the poor and the deprived many schemes have been implemented by the temples like providing food and shelter to the needy. Today, if there is a great progress in the field of tourism, the temples have certainly contributed much to it. A large number of foreigners come to the state to study and understand Kerala’s traditional temple arts like Kathakali, Chakiarkoothu, Ottamthullal etc. On the happy occasion of bringing out this book, we have endeavored to include details of the prominent Ayyappan temples outside Kerala, along with those of the great temples within the state. The intention is to make this a comprehensive reference book for all well-known temples in India. May all our readers be blessed by the Almighty with peace, prosperity and good health.

This study involves a fourteen-hundred-kilometer-long pilgrimage around Japan's fourth largest island, Shikoku. In traveling the circuit of the eighty-eight Buddhist temples that make up the route, pilgrims make their journey together with Kobo Daishi (774-835), the holy miracle-working figure who is at the heart of the pilgrimage. Once seen as a marginal practice, recent media portrayal of the pilgrimage as a symbol of Japanese cultural heritage has greatly increased the number of participants, both Japanese and foreign. In this absorbing look at the nature of the pilgrimage, Ian Reader examines contemporary practices and beliefs in the context of historical development, taking into account theoretical considerations of pilgrimage as a mode of activity and revealing how pilgrimages such as Shikoku may change in nature over the centuries. This rich ethnographic work covers a wide range of pilgrimage activity and behavior, drawing on accounts of pilgrims traveling by traditional means on foot as well as those taking advantage of the new package bus tours, and exploring the pilgrimage's role in the everyday lives of participants and the people of Shikoku alike. that have shaped it in the past and in the present, including history and legend; the island's landscape and residents; the narratives and actions of the pilgrims and the priests who run the temples; regional authorities; and commercial tour operators and bus companies.

The verdant and beautiful Kerala, well known for its flora and fauna and for its rich tradition of temples, has today become one of the must see destinations in the world. Temples have always been an integral part of the culture and tradition of Kerala. This small state has become famous for its efforts to preserve the ancient culture of the big temples as well as the small family shrines, keeping their rich variety and tradition intact. These temples play an important role in spreading the greatness of Kerala in countries all over the world. Temples of Kerala have never been mere places of worship; they have played a pivotal role in the social, financial, cultural and educational fields of the state. For the rehabilitation of the poor and the deprived many schemes have been implemented by the temples like providing food and shelter to the needy. Today, if there is a great progress in the field of tourism, the temples have certainly contributed much to it. A large number of foreigners come to the state to study and understand Kerala’s traditional temple arts like Kathakali, Chakiarkoothu, Ottamthullal etc. On the happy occasion of bringing out this book, we have endeavored to include details of the prominent Ayyappan temples outside Kerala, along with those of the great temples within the state. The intention is to make this a comprehensive reference book for all well-known temples in India. May all our readers be blessed by the Almighty with peace, prosperity and good health.

The book examines whether the protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) by Indonesia and Malaysia upheld the interests of the various communities from which the cultural heritage originates, and whether the laws recognise that cultural heritage is often shared with other states and communities. The legal classifications of various indigenous communities and the interpretations of ‘indigeneity’ in the two countries have presented problems in the context of ICH protection. The state is regarded as holding the intellectual property rights for some forms of ICH and this also posed problems in the implementation of the laws to protect the communities’ ICH. This book employs a community-based perspective and adopts a multidisciplinary approach in exploring questions of the rights to and benefits of heritage. This book will be useful for students, academics and policy makers with an interest in international law, heritage and intellectual property rights.

Cultural and spiritual bonds with ‘nature’ are among the strongest motivators for nature conservation; yet they are seldom taken into account in the governance and management of protected and conserved areas. The starting point of this book is that to be sustainable, effective, and equitable, approaches to the management and governance of these areas need to engage with people’s deeply held cultural, spiritual, personal, and community values, alongside inspiring action to conserve biological, geological, and cultural diversity. Since protected area management and governance have traditionally been based on scientific research, a combination of science and spirituality can engage and empower a variety of stakeholders from different cultural and religious backgrounds. As evidenced in this volume, stakeholders range from indigenous peoples and local communities to those following mainstream religions and those representing the wider public. The authors argue that the scope of protected area management and governance needs to be extended to acknowledge the rights, responsibilities, obligations, and aspirations of stakeholder groups and to recognise the cultural and spiritual significance that ‘nature’ holds for people. The book also has direct practical applications. These follow the IUCN Best Practice Guidelines for protected and conserved area managers and present a wide range of case studies from around the world, including Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas.

This book points out how pilgrimage studies rely on interdisciplinary academic interests, being always more determined by anthropological, social, cultural and economic factors. The volume gathers interdisciplinary contributions revealing different approaches and academic interests when researching pilgrimage. Finally, the proposal introduces a comparative international breath to reflect upon such complex phenomenon that since Antiquity still impregnates the history of human being across the world. As pilgrimage studies are closely related to mobility issues, how the contemporary mobile world is altering and re-signifying pilgrimage dynamics and meanings will also be discussed in detail. The term “pilgrimage” evokes key concepts deriving from different fields, all of them collected in the final glossary. The primary audience of this work are academics and researchers from different fields involved in pilgrimage studies. The work may also be useful in teaching (advanced) university courses.

This Handbook provides a critical analysis of the evolution of the contemporary niche tourism phenomenon. By framing discussions around sustainable development thinking, concepts and practical applications, each chapter provides specific reflections on niche tourism trends, successes and/or failures, and the challenges and opportunities that destinations that pursue tourism as a vehicle for sustainable development face around the world.