Wikipedia's first sentence called it “act of moving around a sacred object”. Today it says “act of moving around a sacred object or idol”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Ritual of moving around a sacred object”. It now reads “Ritual of moving around a sacred object Relief of ancient Indian Buddhists (monks at left, a lay couple at right, statues behind) circumambulating a stupa in a chaitya temple”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2010 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2010
Circumambulation (Arabic: tawaf (طواف); Sanskrit: pradakshina ; Tibetan: skor ba ) is the act of moving around a sacred object.1 Circumambulation of temples or deity images is an integral part of Hindu ritual. It is also practiced in Buddhism . In Islam , circumambulation is performed around the Kaaba in Mecca , in a counter-clockwise direction. In Judaism and Christianity , the circumambulation of Jericho by the Israelites in the Book of Joshua ; while not an act of worship, is the inspiration for combining it with the circling of the Kaaba in Chrislam . In the Catholic Church , a priest sometimes circumambulates an altar while censing it with a thurible . In many Hindu temples, the temple structure reflects the symbolism of the Hindu association of the spiritual transition from daily life to spiritual perfection as a journey through stages. Ambulatory passageways for circumambulation are present through which worshipers move in a clockwise direction, starting at the sanctuary doorway and moving inward toward the inner sanctum where the deity is enshrined. This is a translation of the spiritual concept of transition through levels in life into bodily movements by the worshipers as they move inwardly through ambulatory halls to the most sacred centre of spiritual energy of the deity. Circumambulation is done in a clockwise direction and in an odd rather than even number of times. Circumbulatory walking around the shrine, by keeping time, is a common form of Hindu prayer. The circumbulary pathway made of stone around the shrine is called the Pradakshina path.2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 351004265.
The opening as it stood in 2015 11 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Relief of ancient Indian Buddhists (monks at left, a lay couple at right, statues behind) circumambulating a stupa in a chaitya temple Circumambulation (from Latin circum around + ambulātus to walk ) is the act of moving around a sacred object or idol.Circumambulation of temples or deity images is an integral part of Hindu and Buddhist devotional practice (known in Sanskrit as pradakśiṇā ).It is also present in other religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 667005982.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Relief of ancient Indian Buddhists (monks at left, a lay couple at right, statues behind) circumambulating a stupa in a chaitya temple Circumambulation (from Latin circum around and ambulātus to walk ) is the act of moving around a sacred object or idol. Circumambulation of temples or deity images is an integral part of Hindu and Buddhist devotional practice (known in Sanskrit as pradakśiṇā ). It is also present in other religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Edinburgh: Clark. : CS1 maint: publisher location ( link ) "Circum-" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964200217.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Ritual of moving around a sacred object For the album by True Widow, see Circumambulation (album) . Relief of ancient Indian Buddhists (monks at left, a lay couple at right, statues behind) circumambulating a stupa in a chaitya temple Circumambulation (from Latin circum around and ambulātus to walk ) is the act of moving around a sacred object or idol. Circumambulation of temples or deity images is an integral part of Hindu and Buddhist devotional practice (known in Sanskrit as pradakśiṇā ). It is also present in other religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Edinburgh: Clark. : CS1 maint: publisher location ( link ) "Circum-" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178215815.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Ritual of moving around a sacred object For the album by True Widow, see Circumambulation (album) . Relief of ancient Indian Buddhists (monks at left, a lay couple at right, statues behind) circumambulating a stupa in a chaitya temple Circumambulation (from Latin circum around and ambulātus to walk ) is the act of moving around a sacred object or idol. Circumambulation of temples or deity images is an integral part of Hindu and Buddhist devotional practice (known in Sanskrit as pradakśiṇā ). It is also present in other religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Edinburgh: Clark. : CS1 maint: publisher location ( link ) "Circum-" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1294927590. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “act of moving around a sacred object”. Today it says “act of moving around a sacred object or idol”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Ritual of moving around a sacred object”. It now reads “Ritual of moving around a sacred object Relief of ancient Indian Buddhists (monks at left, a lay couple at right, statues behind) circumambulating a stupa in a chaitya temple”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
act of moving around a sacred object
Now
act of moving around a sacred object or idol
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
