01Dau, the elder brother
In Braj, Balarama is simply Dau, elder brother, and Krishna is the younger one who must always be looked after. The temple’s tradition says the murti was first installed by Vajranabha, Krishna’s great-grandson, who set up the principal deities of Braj after the Dwapara Yuga, and that it was lost and later found in a pond, the Kshir Sagar beside the temple. Goswami Gokulnath, a grandson of Shri Vallabhacharya, re-established the worship in the 16th century, and the priestly family he appointed still serves. The murti is about two metres of black stone, with Revati, small, at his side.
02The Huranga
On the day after Holi, Chaitra Krishna Dwitiya, the temple courtyard holds the Huranga. The women of the Pandey families tear the shirts off the men, twist the cloth into whips and beat them, while the men drench them with colour and water from great vats; the play goes on for hours, to the shouts of ‘Dau ji ki jai’. Bhang and makhan-mishri are offered to Dauji, who is fond of both.
Baldeo is about 20 km south-east of Mathura via Gokul and Mahavan; buses and shared autos run from Mathura.
