UNIT 1 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON TOURISM Structure 1.0Objectives 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Historical Background of Travel on Global Level 1.2.1 Ancient Period 1.2.2 Medieaval Period 2.2.3 Modern Period 1.3 Travels in Bharat 1.3.1 Teerthatana 1.3.2 Paryatan 1.3.3 Deshatan 1.4 Historical Background of Global Travellers 1.5 Renaissance 1.6 Missionaries 1.7 Growth and Development of Travelling in Modern Period 1.7.1 Paid holidays 1.7.2 Railways 1.7.3 Sea Transport 1.7.4 Road Transport 1.7.5 Air Transport 1.8 Industrialisation and Modern Tourism 1.9 Emergence of Modern Tourism In Bharat 1.10 Let Us Sum Up 1.11 Key Word 1.12 Some Useful Books 1.13 Terminal Questions 1.0 OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, you should be able to: Understandthe concept of travelling in ancient era. Describe what termswere used for tourism in ancient Bharat. Emergence of tourism on global level. Understand travelling in different era Renaissance and tourism Relationship between industrialisation and tourism business. Emergence of Modern Tourism in Bharat 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION Tourism is now becoming popular day by day not only in our country but across the globe. But, we had been using term Deshatan, Teerthatana and Paryatan in our ancient Bharat. Though it was not commercialised in ancient societyas is now days. In our day-to-day life, quite often we use words tourism and its various forms like health tourism, space tourism, religious tourism, etc.. In this introductory unit, you will learn Historical perspectives on tourism- Globally and Nationally, Industrialisation and tourism development, Renaissance and tourism. You will also learn the historical background of tourism in ancient society of Bharat. You will be familiar with the terms Deshatan, Teerthatana and Paryatan commonly used for tourism. 1.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF TRAVEL ON GLOBAL LEVEL 1.2.1 ANCIENT PERIOD 1.2.2 MEDIEVAL PERIOD 1.2.3 MODERN PERIOD 1.3 TRAVELS IN BHARAT 1- Travels in Ancient Bharat 2- Travels in Medieval Bharat 3- Emergence of Modern Travels ANCIENT PERIOD Travelling in ancient Bharat was the essential component of life. It was so important that it had place in Ashram System of ancient society in Bharat. There were four Ashramas namely Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanprastha and Sanyas. Ancient Society was following these Ashrama System, in which each of four Ashramaswere divided in to twenty five years assuming normal life span of hundred years. The duty of each Ashramas were different, asgaining of knowledge of holy texts (i.e. Shastra for example Veda and Puranas etc.) and War Skill (i.e. ShustraVidya) was the main objective in the Brahmacharya Ashram . Gurukul were the place where disciples were supposed to reside and learn all these. Second phase of Ashramas was Grihastha where people were living in family and enjoying materialistic life. It was the stage where people having relationship in other kingdom and were travelling to relatives’ home and were making stay for few days in order to maintain the relationship. Third stage of Ashrama System was Vanprastha. You can say it was transition phase where people were roamingto different Pilgrimages, holy places and in the ashram of Guru. It was 2 normally located far away in the jungle where people of Grihastha Ashram were visiting frequently and staying for few days. Fourth one was SanyasAshrama, in which people were expected to leave their homes or can saydetachedthemselves from worldly life and roaming different places of different sadhus and sanyasis in order to achieve self-actualisation. Sometimes, they set up their own Ashramas too. But in this stage they were supposed to keep themselves away from materialistic life. Travelling for the purpose of leisure and pleasure in old era was also limited to king and ministers and elite class only which can be said to be excursion as per modern definition as their journey was normally for les than 24 hours.If we analysis all types of travelling whether done by common people followingAshramas System or by elite class, then found that travelling done by both common people and elite class was not commercialised as is now days. Bharatiya ancient textsdescribethe origin and concept of tourism in the Sanskrit Literature. It has given us terms derived from the root word, ‘Atana’ which means going out. Accordingly, we have the terms: 1.3.1Tirthantana-Literary it means Tirtha (Pilgrim centre) + Atana (going out).It means going out and visiting places of religious merit.In Hinduism, People used to go to four dhamas and other shrines. 1.3.2Paryatana- As name suggests, it means paritah (around) + Atana (going out). It means going out for pleasure and knowledge. Example may be quoted from the old era when elite class was going out for hunting etc. 1.3.3Deshatan-In Sanskrit, it is described as Desha (country)+Atana(going out).It means going out of the country primarily for trade and commerce. The basic objective was economic gain. In Simple Terms Tourism is the act of travel for the purposes of leisure, pleasure or business, and the provision of services for this act. There are two important components that make up tourism: 1. The practice of travelling for pleasure. 2. The business of providing tours and services for persons travelling. 3 Here we are discussing the features of above two components. The following are required, to make travel possible: 1. Discretionary income, i.e. money to spend on non-essentials. 2. Time in which to do so. 3. Infrastructure in the form of accommodation facilities and means of transport Individually, sufficient health is also a condition, and of source the inclination to travel. Furthermore, in some countries there are legal restrictions on travelling, especially abroad. Communist states restrict foreign travel only to “trustworthy” citizens. The United States prohibits its citizens from travelling some countries, for example, Cuba. There are four basics services to be provided for Tourists: 1. There Arrangements 2. Board and Lodging 3. Food 4. Entertainment In the above paragraphs we have discussed the basic meaning of tourism and the features of the components of tourism. Tourism is travel for recreational or leisure purpose. The World Tourism Organisation defines tourists as who “Travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year leisure, business and other purpose not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the places visited”. Tourism has become a popular global leisure activity. During 6th Century BC Buddhist pilgrimage centres or visiting places like Nalanda University and Takshshilawere the places of great importance where people were visiting from not with in the country but abroad too. Ashoka the Great, travelled a great deal in his eagerness tospread the doctrines of Buddha. Throughout his travels, from Pataliputrato Lumbini and finally to Gaya, Emperor Ashoka had special memorialsset up at each spot as well as rest houses where travellers could rest. Treeswere planted along the roads so that the travellers was protected from the punitive sun. Harsha was another great emperor who was greatly influenced by the Buddhist scriptures, he built institutions and dharamshalas for the traveller, Rest houses were built in the 4 villages. A number of monasteries were alsobuilt for the pilgrims. This shows that travel facilities were very good andtravel was not a cumbersome experience. At this time the Buddhist Sangaestablished the tradition of pilgrimage, where monks went from village tovillage preaching the value of the middle path. 1.4 Historical Background of Global Travellers According to western writers the Persians were probable the first real travellers to India. They travelled from place to place for trade. There is evidence of caravans of the Persian King, Darius. There is also reference to trade, commerce and cultural exchanges between Persia and India. The Greeks showed great interest in travel Homers’ Odyssey records the wander lust of the ancient Greeks. Ulysses the Greek epic hero did a wonderful journey and his travel experiences induced the Greeks in this field. Herodotus to whom western scholars poses as Father of History also undertook travel to Asia Minor, Egypt and some other countries. He travelled for about 1600 miles. His foremost aim of his travel was to collect materials for writing history. Great Greek philosophers like Plato, Aristotle and Pythagoras undertook travel during this period. Generally Greek engaged in travels for worshipping Gods and Goddesses, to participate in games and to witness fairs and festivals. During the time of Alexander’s invasion of India evidence can be seen with regard to roads and the shady trees on both sides of the roads. The writing of Greek historians reveals that the people used cars, palanquins, bullock- carts, horses, camels and elephants for travel. Silk trade was going on from China to Baghdad through camels in ancient time. Early travel in the Orient particularly in India and in China was also largely based on trade and commerce. Travel to orient, particularly to India was undertaken by travellers from all over the ancient world. Trade and commerce were the main reasons behind the journey. India and China enjoyed the reputation of being countries of fabulous. Honey and milk was in India. It is on the record that long before the Christian era, travellers visited India in search of fortune. This trend continued and became more marked in course of time with Europeans heading towards the Indian shores for sole purpose of trade and commerce. India attracted many great travellers like Vasco-da-Gama etc. to the county because of its fabulous wealth. Many foreigners, Arabs and Europeans alike came to India to establish trading posts.