Melanie Drury
Wednesday, 19 December
Vrindavan, in Uttar Pradesh, India, has certainly captured my heart. Even as I leave it to visit the nearby places of pilgrimage related to the pastimes of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, the Divine Couple ruling the hearts of Vrindavan’s inhabitants, I feel a sense of longing to return.
Mathura is just 15 kilometres south-east. It is mentioned in the Vedas as a city of particular auspiciousness, yet many of the smaller towns within the Mathura district – Vrindavan and Govardhan in particular – are more infused with a spiritual air. Today a bustling city with a railway junction connecting Delhi with South India and many trains running east-west, Mathura mainly serves as a transit point for pilgrims to its close neighbours.
Yet Mathura still boasts being the birth-place of Lord Krishna. The Janmastam (or Janmabhoomi), a large temple which has been historically destroyed by Muslims and rebuilt by devotees three times, is a very important pilgrimage site with thousands of visitors daily.
Once through the high-security checks (forbidding even mobile phones), I am allowed into a magnificent area with a temple on a hill, where King Kamsa’s palace once stood. An impressive mosque stands right beside it. Shops line the square at the bottom of the hill and on one side is a newly-added feature – a walk-through mountain depicting some of Lord Krishna’s pastimes, in a slightly kich theme-park style.
King Kamsa was Lord Krishna’s maternal uncle, but he was a demon. Fearing the prophecy that Krishna’s birth would signify an end to his own life, he kept his sister Devaki imprisoned, killing all her sons one by one as they were born. Lord Krishna was thus born in a prison cell, which I visit, but due to a clever trick, he was transported to Nanda and Yasoda’s house at birth, which saved him from Kamsa.
When the Muslims tore down one of the previous temples, they used the stone to build their own place of worship, the mosque which still stands today. Since the devotees rebuilt a new temple on the same site, this place of Muslim worship now oddly stands in extreme proximity with a most important Hindu monument.
Many pilgrims coming through Mathura also take the opportunity to bathe on the banks of the Jamuna at Vishram Ghat and perform worship. A few other temples including a Gaudiya Math also attract their attention.
Thursday, 20 December
I follow the pilgrims’ trail through the city to nearby Govardhan, which lies about 25 kilometres west of Mathura.
During one of his pastimes, Lord Krishna told the villagers to worship Govardhan Hill, Sri Giriraj, instead of Lord Indra, the King of Heaven, for rain for the cows’ pastures. Lord Indra became angry and sent torrential rain. The villagers ran to Lord Krishna for protection. He lifted Govardhan Hill with the little finger of his left hand and all the villagers went beneath for shelter. For seven days and nights he held up the hill, and they tried to help him with sticks since they could not see their Krishna as God but as their beloved friend.
Meanwhile, Sri Krishna was chuffed that, although the villagers encountered trouble because they had followed his instruction, it was him they sought for protection. Such was the depth of their love, faith and trust in him. By this whole process, Govardhan Hill, who was originally Sri Giriraj, the son of Dronachala, the King of the Mountains, became non-different from Sri Krishna himself. Since then, Sri Giriraj has the power to increase the loving devotion of the devotees towards their Lord.
The sacred hill is rather narrow and about eight kilometres long – sandstone and huge rocks rising mysteriously from an otherwise flat land. There is a constant trail of pilgrims circling around it. Some sadhus (holy men) perform an extreme dandavat parikarama – a walk around a holy site by prostrating at every step. They do each prostration 108 times, a sacred number for Hindus. A stone from a pile is moved one at a time with each prostration, or a bead is moved along a line. It must surely take them several months, even years, to complete a full round.
Along the pilgrimage route around the hill, we come across Sri Govinda Kunda and Sri Harji Kunda, at opposite sides at the base of the sacred hill. Both lakes are sacred sites due to some particular lila (pastimes of the Lord on earth) having gone on there. The Harji Kunda is peculiar for its pink rose-coloured water, especially visible from a distance or when the water is agitated.
Friday, 21 December
Manasa Ganga is a manifestation of the Ganges River, said to have manifested out of the Lord’s own mind. When the residents of Braj (Vrindavan and surrounding area) expressed their wish to go to the holy Ganges, not wishing them to leave him, the Lord simply brought the Ganges to them. The kunda (lake) was embellished in the last centuries and ghats now give easy access to it. Apart from bathing in its soul-purifying waters, the Manasa Ganga is also venue for some very crowded festivals.
Sunday, 23 December
The walk around Govardhan Hill is only part of the whole Govardhan Parikrama. Several pilgrims go on to walk all the way to Radha-kunda and Shyama-kunda. Along this road the sacred hill seems to extend further, and I am impressed at the number of ladies I see doing the 108-dandavat parikrama while I whizz past on a cycle rickshaw.
Radha-kunda and Shyama-kunda are two sacred pools associated with the Divine Couple’s pastimes and a source of inspiration for many holy men who have spent their entire lives on their banks, performing bhajan (worship) and writing holy scriptures. Today, several samadhi mandirs (tombs) and bhajan kutirs (sacred places of meditation) of various saints may be found in an almost hidden area between the two kundas.
A famous temple, which is also the samadhi mandir of Srila Ragunath das Goswami, one of the renowned Six Goswami saints of Vrindavan, dominates the area with its constant kirttan (songs of worship). The Six Goswamis lived in the times of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the golden avatar (incarnation), and they are the instigators of the Gaudya-Vaishnava philosophy which has spread worldwide,
Kusum Sarovar is another embellished sacred pool on the road between Radha-kunda/Shyama-kunda and Govardhan Hill. There is not much else except the exquisite architecture built around it to commemorate yet another holy site associated with Sri Sri Radha-Krishna lila. With its canopies and arches, it is just beautiful.
Tuesday, 25 December
How odd that today is Christmas Day and there is absolutely no hint of the celebration that rules December in the larger part of the Western world. I have previously spent the festive season in the south of India where Christmas is widely celebrated, probably due to Kerala and Goa having such a large percentage of Christians. I was especially amused that the decorations are not brought down until after February! On the other hand, here the day feels so ordinary that when I find greetings on my mobile phone they catch me by surprise!
Friday, 28 December
From Govardhan back to Vrindavan we take the route through Barsana and Nandagram, both of which are locations associated with the childhood pastimes of Srimati Radharani and Sri Krishna.
Barsana is reputed to be the birthplace of Sri Radha and the place where she grew up. The stories passed on generation after generation led to the building of a beautiful temple at the top of the hill, which looks like a palace out of a fairytale. All around and within, several pilgrims pay their homage to the deities or sit on the chess-board marble floor reading scriptures. Some sing kirttan in praise of their Lordships while others simply let themselves be transported by the atmosphere and by the views.
Sri Krishna spent the years between 8 and 16 in nearby Nandagram, having spent his earlier years in Gokul on the east side of Mathura. Maharaj Nanda had brought Krishna here, 50 kilometres northwest of Vrindavana town, to protect him from the attacks of Kamsa’s demons. The town surrounding the hill is called Nandagaon.
On the top of the hill is the Nandagram Temple hosting two black-marble deities of Sri Krishna and Sri Balarama, his brother, with two tall deities of their parents, Yasoda and Nanda Maharaja, on either side. Next to Yasoda is a deity of Srimati Radharani and next to Nanda Maharaja are two of Lord Krishna’s friends, Sudama and Madhumangala – a beautiful family portrait. On the ceiling of the temple are many exquisite murals depicting Lord Krishna’s lila.
At the bottom of Nandagram Hill is a small lake known as Pavana Sarovara, another kunda associated with Lord Krishna’s childhood pastimes and those between Sri Sri Radha-Krishna who began their lila involving clandestine meetings during this time.
Indeed, to this day, the men of Nandagaon and the ladies of Barsana play out a re-enactment of part of the Sri Sri Radha-Krishna lila during a particularly wild celebration of Holi Festival, the festival of colour widely celebrated throughout India around the full-moon of March. Only the residents of these particular villages are considered qualified to play out such lila of the Divine Couple, a qualification only due to their particular birth in that holy place.
During this game known as the Lath-maar Holi or Huranga, the men of Nandagaon attempt to place a flag on the temple in Barsana to mark their victory over Barsana’s women while the ladies defend their territory by beating them with oiled staffs. The men shield themselves from the blows using leather shields amidst clouds of colour and myrrh.
Outside of such celebrations, both villages appear peaceful and uneventful except for the daily visits from pilgrims visiting the palaces on the hills. Pity about the numerous so-called sadhus asking for money, “in service to the inhabitants of the holy site,” just like in Govardhan – something of a trend in recent years since the increment in Western devotees. Our guide simply says it is the culture!
Sunday, 30 December
In two days time it will be the new year according to the Western calendar. I wonder if any celebrations will take place. In April this year I have experienced the Bengali New Year, just as the Chinese New Year and the Jewish New Year fall on different days other than 1 January. It is a slow realisation how we tend to think that our perspective of the world and our habits are the ones that rule the entire planet.
I am daily discovering the extreme range of culture, custom and religious feeling of the world’s people even just by this visit to India – so extreme, diverse, weird and wonderful!
Episode 25 of Melanie Drury’s diary is due on 14 January
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