01Giriraj
The Bhagavata Purana tells it in the tenth skandha. The gopas of Vraja were preparing their yearly offering to Indra. The child Krishna asked Nanda Baba why: the cows grazed on Govardhan and the rain fell by its own nature, so let them worship the hill. They did, with a mountain of food. Indra sent a storm to drown Vraja, and Krishna lifted Govardhan with one hand and held it as an umbrella for seven days and nights. That is why Annakut is cooked on the day after Diwali, and why every stone of the hill is treated as Krishna himself. Pilgrims take no stone away.
02Shrinathji and the parikrama
The Pushti Marg tells that the svarupa of Shri Govardhannathji, Krishna with his left arm raised, appeared from the hill, and that Vallabhacharya established its seva in a temple on Govardhan early in the 16th century. In 1669, when Aurangzeb ordered the temples of Braj destroyed, the priests carried the image away by bullock cart; it reached Sinhad in Mewar in 1672, which became Nathdwara. The parikrama of seven kos, about 21 km, passes Mansi Ganga, Daan Ghati, Radha Kund and Kusum Sarovar, where Jawahar Singh of Bharatpur raised a chhatri to his father Suraj Mal. Some pilgrims do it in dandavat, lying full length at every step.
The life of this place
- early 16th centuryVallabhacharya establishes the seva of Shrinathji on Govardhan.
- 1669Fearing Aurangzeb’s order against the temples of Braj, the priests carry Shrinathji away.
- 1672Shrinathji reaches Sinhad in Mewar, the present Nathdwara.
- after 1763Jawahar Singh builds Suraj Mal’s chhatri at Kusum Sarovar.
25 km west of Mathura. The parikrama takes five to six hours on foot; the great crowds come on Guru Purnima (Mudiya Purnima) and at Annakut after Diwali.
