Know Thyself and Change the World’: The Western Pilgrimage Narrative and South Asia

This paper summarises recurring elements of contemporary pilgrimage narratives related to South Asia and their role in neo-colonial ‘globalisation.’ While sacred sites are visited by both local and international pilgrims, their recreation as story cannot be regarded as innocent, interwoven as it is in historical domination and appropriation. The paper focuses on two contemporary narratives that draw on the motif of odyssey. It explores, in part, the increasing role of social media and technology in the most recent incarnations of the paradigm.