India is a religious land. Ever since the dawn of civilization, India has been the birthplace of many religions. Being so, the country boasts of a lot of pilgrim destinations within its precincts. Rich in mythology, it has a number of temples, mosques, monasteries, churches and gurdwaras, which attract lakhs of devotees every year. People belonging to various religions come here to visit the various pilgrimages and obtain the divine blessings of God, seeking forgiveness for all their sins.

Pilgrimage tourism forms an important segment of domestic tourism in India. India as a confluence of different religions has always attracted pilgrims from all over the world. India is home to many religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Islam and all of them have their important places of worship.

Hinduism, the oldest religion of the world, has many shrines all over India. Hindus settled in various parts of the world come to India to visit their scared temples and get darshan of the Divine Being. Similarly, the country has numerous shrines belonging to other religions as well. Buddhists come to visit Bodhgaya, where Lord Buddha received enlightenment, and Sarnath, where He delivered his first sermon. Sikh pilgrimage sites in India include the Golden Temple founded by Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru. This is the most sacred shrine of the Sikhs and is in the town of Amritsar. Jain temples in India are an attraction to all the devotees following Jainism religion. One of the most important Jain pilgrimage sites located in the Karnataka state is the monolithic statue of Bahubali at Sravanabelagola. Christianity has had long and glorious relations with India. History states that St. Thomas sailed to India from Eastern Asia in AD 52 and spent 12 years in India, the last eight of his life in Mylapore in Madras (now Chennai).