India pushes 'graveyard tourism'

Hyderabadi

Tourist guides prefer to call it cemetery tourism. Others say it is essentially meant for 'tomb travellers'.
But tourism authorities at the idyllic Himalayan Indian state of Himachal Pradesh are loathe to woo British tourists with such macabre sounding pitches.

So they are telling them a visit to the state's many European graveyards is an added 'bonus' on their itinerary.

According to official estimates, there are some 10 main 'European' graveyards in the state, which mainly house the remains of British people who died in India.....More:

pranavganesh

These are called GORA KABRISTAN......

Literally the graveyards of the whites

they are dotted all along the big indian cities...I have done some walks in such places in Kanpur, Allahabad, Mussoorie, Lansdowne..

But promoting it as a tourism spot is far-fetched and yet interesting

Let us see the response

Hyderabadi

There used to be small groups of European toourists even back in the 80s coming to visit graveyards in the Secunderabad Cantonement area and also one other area near Vizag, Bheemili, I think ( rangss ? ).

A well known tomb in Hyderabad is of Moosaram - Monsieur Raymond. The area around his tomb is called Moosarambagh. Literally, Moosa Ram's Garden.

Used to be visible atop a small hill when you went by, no longer now.

Hyderabadi

IN A rare achievement , the A.P Government's Department of Tourism, Culture and Archaeology, recently joined hands with the `Alliance Francaise de Hyderabad', (the French Cultural centre) and concerned citizens to put up a show in visual and architectural terms marking a new era in cultural tourism. On April 14, 2003, the 200 year-old Raymond's Tomb, situated on top of a hillock at Mussaram Bag, Malakpet, got a facelift and a brand new pavilion that showcased before a select gathering of connoisseurs the remarkable exploits of buccaneer Frenchman, Generale Michel Joachim Marie Raymond....

SANJAY_DEL

There have been recent reports from Uttar Pradesh as well on this so called Graveyard Tourism to woo the Brits. I'd posted a similar thread on IM:


“Explore the Indian Mutiny: 150th Anniversary Series”.
British tour operators are cashing in on the announcement by the Government of India to celebrate 150 years of the Indian mutiny.
UP Tourism Department is thinking seriously about a great “Mutiny Tour”.
There are numerous queries from several British nationals wanting to see the graves of their forefathers dating back to the British Raj in India.So after rural, religious and health tourism, it’s time for ‘'Cemetery Tourism’.

capt_mahajan

Am surprised they are calling it the "Mutiny" tour. I would have thought the politically correct nonsense would have been "the first war of independence" tour.

A grave offence

unclelach

Many visitors to India wish to pursue past family connections. This is true of people whose families were originally Indian or from elsewhere.

I am quite interested in graveyard tourism to the extent that it covers an ancestor family of mine. My ggg grandfather was a British Serjeant Major stationed in Meerut during the 1830's. Two children of the family died in infancy and were buried in the cantonment cemetery. The family lived in Bombay and Pune in the 1840's and came to Australia in 1849.

The British Association For Cemeteries in South Asia cares for civilian european cemeteries in India and elsewhere.

crvlvr

The biggest tourist attraction in India, the Taj Mahal, is a tomb. I guess India is already in the business of "graveyard tourism".

SANJAY_DEL

Well said!

bijapuri

I've shot Vellore and Jhansi for this site:
http://www.indian-cemeteries.org/

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bellcrank

I've actually done quite a bit of this. Park St Cemetery in Calcutta is on the top of my list, followed by St Johns Church (also in Calcutta). Couple of images from Park St.

Attached Thumbnails

   

haddojetty

I remember being in Varanasi and a local guy being desperate to take me up some stairs to stand directly over the smoke from one of the burning ghats. I was horrified, he even wanted baksheesh!

Lugubert

One day I'll perhaps sort my photos of the Taj and the tombs of for example Humayun and Safdar Jang, and get some more from other places to look into the evolvement of Mughal architecture.

For more modern ones, I didn't go to Nicholson's tomb in Delhi, despite having read that the cemetery has got a recent facelift.

I had a real surprise in Darjiling. One day, a guy wanted to show me the "Old cemetery". He gave no reason, so I didn't think it sounded too much fun. A few days later, on a fairly long walk, I just happened to find it. It turned out that Csoma de Kőrös is buried there. Anyone who has ever thought of learning Tibetan will recognize the name. According to Wiki, "He is said to have been able to read in seventeen languages. De Kőrös is widely seen as the founder of Tibetology."

sirensongs

I wrote something in 2003 about the eerie appeal of visiting Raj era graveyards and churches (with all their memorial plaques) in Calcutta. I did my tour on Halloween, but then in Calcutta nearly every day is Halloween....;-)
See "Calcutta-the Great Unwashed" at www.trekshare.com/members/sirensongs
it's called "Twilight of the Sahibs" ;-)

Not only are the graveyards peaceful and rather green, but Victorian tombstones are real works of art no longer made.

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Sama

I don't see anything unusual in this. New Orleans (pre-Katrina, don't know about now) is famous for its "above ground" cemetaries and they are (were?) a staple on the tourist bus rides. Chicago also has a famous cemetary that many tourists go see for the monuments and mausoleums of famous Chicagoans.

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