<Li> Durga Puja or Durga Ashtami </Li> <P> Pilgrimage sites are called Tirtha, Kshetra, Gopitha or Mahalaya in Hinduism . The process or journey associated with Tirtha is called Tirtha - yatra . According to the Hindu text Skanda Purana, Tirtha are of three kinds: Jangam Tirtha is to a place movable of a sadhu, a rishi, a guru; Sthawar Tirtha is to a place immovable, like Benaras, Hardwar, Mount Kailash, holy rivers; while Manas Tirtha is to a place of mind of truth, charity, patience, compassion, soft speech, soul . Tīrtha - yatra is, states Knut A. Jacobsen, anything that has a salvific value to a Hindu, and includes pilgrimage sites such as mountains or forests or seashore or rivers or ponds, as well as virtues, actions, studies or state of mind . </P> <P> Pilgrimage sites of Hinduism are mentioned in the epic Mahabharata and the Puranas . Most Puranas include large sections on Tirtha Mahatmya along with tourist guides, which describe sacred sites and places to visit . In these texts, Varanasi (Benares, Kashi), Rameshwaram, Kanchipuram, Dwarka, Puri, Haridwar, Sri Rangam, Vrindavan, Ayodhya, Tirupati, Mayapur, Nathdwara, twelve Jyotirlinga and Shakti Peetha have been mentioned as particularly holy sites, along with geographies where major rivers meet (sangam) or join the sea . The Kumbhamela, which rotates at a gap of three years, between Prayaga (renamed to Allahabad in the late medieval era), Hardwar, Ujjain and Nasik, is popular with tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims participating . </P> <P> Some pilgrimage are a part of a Vrata (vow), which a Hindu may make for a number of reasons . It may mark a special occasion, such as the birth of a baby, or as part of a rite of passage such as a baby's first haircut, or after healing from a sickness . It may, states Eck, also be the result of prayers answered . An alternate reason for Tirtha, for some Hindus, is to respect wishes or in memory of a beloved person after his or her death . This may include dispersing their cremation ashes in a Tirtha region in a forest, mountain, river or sea to honor the wishes of the dead . The journey to a Tirtha, assert some Hindu texts, helps one overcome the sorrow of the loss . </P>

Who is considered to be the founder or prophet of hinduism