Talk:Circumambulation

Article used as source is unnessiciarily contriversal and off topic
The article used as a source for Hindu circumambulation is a bad choice. There are many more respectable and uncontriversal articles about Hindu circumambulation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.95.101.54 (talk) 16:25, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

I hope that there is no controversy that you intend the words "unnecessarily controversial", rather than the seemingly spelling corrupted words that you used. Perhaps you are confusing this topic with a search for "circumnabulation/circumnabulate", which is what you seem to be interested in. Mouselb (talk) 22:40, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

removed as uncited quotation and put on talk page
According to Arab Gateway, "The minimum rituals that must be performed by all pilgrims are wearing ihram, standing at Arafat, and the second circumambulation of the Kaaba. Others may be omitted on payment of kaffarah (expiation)." Thanks! --Mattisse 22:55, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

Meaning
On Bönpo it is said: "The Bönpo in the Northern Hemisphere traditionally circumambulate (generally) in a counter-clockwise or widdershin direction, that is a direction that runs counter to the apparent movement of the Sun."

First of all, apparently - the sun does not move. Although I have heard that in reality it moves very very slowly around a socalled black sun (right?), I wonder how this can be understood, from which planet or star or so.
 * Austerlitz -- 88.72.29.72 (talk) 18:09, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

any Bönpo in the Southern Hemisphere??? --147.162.48.1 (talk) 08:34, 11 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Changed to -uh- Tibet. Kortoso (talk) 22:50, 6 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Text had been copied directly from: 22:59, 6 December 2017 (UTC)

Merger Proposal

 * I disagree with the merger. Circumambulation (which admittedly is not mentioned in this article) is the geographical equivalent of Circumnavigation, meaning to encircle a landmass on land (be it on foot, vehicle, etc). It doesn't just have the religious meaning discussed in this article. I believe the content within the article on Hinduism should be merged with the proposed article, and the original article left behind to both clarify the definition and redirect people to the Hindu practice. Bezza84 (talk) 15:46, 8 June 2011 (UTC)


 * I have removed the proposal, as this article should include entries related to all types of circumambulation, not just the one in Hinduism. Wiki-uk (talk) 13:12, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

REASON behind Circumambulation
The article needs to bring this out clearly. The HINDU reason for clockwise circumambulation at the time of prayer is based on SCIENCE. The purpose of prayer is to bring about internal harmony and alignment of all aspects including the earth's magnetic field. The clockwise circumambulation follows the "right hand rule" in relation to the earth's magnetic field and being centred to the core of the earth. Reading on the subject will lend more clarity on commonsense rather then searching for "authoritative references" on the subject. — Preceding unsigned comment added by TheOnlyEmperor (talk • contribs) 11:24, 24 April 2012 (UTC)

Direction of travel
It appears that different traditions circumambulate either clockwise or counter-clockwise, they are pretty consistent about it, and this may illustrate some of their relationships (Hinduism with Buddhism for instance). Can we find more information about directions for different traditions? Kortoso (talk) 22:53, 6 December 2017 (UTC)


 * , i found some information about the direction in circumambulation traditions in the encyclopedia articles which i cite in the section Buddhist devotion. According to the Encyclopedia of Religion article cited there, in Buddhism, circumambulation is done clockwise, whereas in some animist traditions it is done counterclockwise. Anyway, check out the sources linked at that section.--Farang Rak Tham (talk) 01:50, 7 December 2017 (UTC)


 * Thank you,, feel free to edit up this article. And it's hazardous to define any particular animist tradition's rituals, since they all march to a different drummer.
 * I recall Richard Francis Burton remarking in his Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madina and Mecca how Islam and Hinduism performed the ritual in opposite directions.
 * "The Moslem in circumambulation presents his left shoulder; the Hindu's Pradakshina consists in walking round with the right side towards the fane or idol. Possibly the former may be a modification of the latter, which would appear to be the original form of the rite. Its conjectural significance is an imitation of the procession of the heavenly bodies, the motions of the spheres, and the dances of the angels."Kortoso (talk) 19:12, 7 December 2017 (UTC)
 * You know your classics well, . I look forward to see more of your editing.--Farang Rak Tham (talk) 10:06, 8 December 2017 (UTC)