01Bodana’s Krishna
Bodana walked from Dakor to Dwarka every year for darshan, carrying a tulsi plant. When he grew too old, the Dakor Mahatmya says, Krishna told him to bring his cart, and the murti came with him to Dakor in 1151. The priests of Dwarka followed to take it back, and agreed to give up their claim for the murti’s weight in gold. Bodana’s wife Gangabai had only a gold nose-ring. It was put on the scale with a tulsi leaf, and it balanced the murti. The priests went home and, the account adds, were promised a second image at Dwarka.
02Tambvekar’s temple
Worship stayed simple until 1625, when Goswami Harirai of the Vallabha line brought the rites of the Pushtimarg to Ranchhodrai. In 1769–70 Gopalrao Tambvekar, a Maratha banker of the Peshwa period, built the present temple, its walls set with eight domes and towers, and the murti was moved into it. The image is of black stone, four-armed. On the full moons of Sharad and Kartik lakhs come on foot from Ahmedabad, Vadodara and the villages, and the town hands out food and water along every road.
The life of this place
- 1151 (Dakor Mahatmya)Ranchhodrai comes from Dwarka to Dakor with Bodana.
- 1625Goswami Harirai introduces Pushtimarg rites.
- 1769–70Gopalrao Tambvekar builds the present temple.
Dakor is about 90 km south-east of Ahmedabad and has a railway station on the Anand–Godhra line.
