Kaleidoscope: Mathura-Vrindhavan-Gokul trip - Part 1

I was visiting Gurgaon and thought of using the opportunity to take a day off and visit the divya desams of Mathura and Gokul. Here’s my 1-day trip details, which I hope will help others shape their travel plan Forewarning: Though I did a day trip, I will strongly suggest planning for multiple days. It is better to spend more time and let the visuals register in the mind better.

Plan

I booked a taxi for the day from Gurgaon. The driver was “supposed” to be a knowledgeable person who would take me to the places that I wanted to visit. My primary destinations were Krishna janam bhumi in Mathura and Thiruaaypaadi/Ayarpaadi in Gokul. Secondary destinations were Dwarakadeesh temple in Mathura, Banke Bihari temple, Prem mandir, Ranganathaswamy temple, Iskcon and Nidhivan in Vrindavan, Raman Rethi in Gokul, Govardhan and Barsana.

Note that Ayarpaadi is not a name that the locals understand. I am still not very sure which place it is. Wait for my post on Gokul for more details.

Mathura

I started the day at 5:30 AM from Gurgaon. Reached Mathura at around 7:45 AM. The driver parked the car in a parking lot and came along with me. The parking lot was 350 meters from the temple. I did not note the spot in maps and can’t find it now. Believe it was in Rina road. The parking was Rs.100 for 4 hours (or Rs.200 for the day). We walked to the temple - about 5 minutes.

Janam Bhumi

Phones were to be deposited in a locket place outside the temple complex, and cost Rs.4 for 2 phones. Note that car keys with remote lock also had to be deposited. Footwear can be worn inside the complex, and deposited in a separate place for free. I visited in December, a cold month in Mathura, so wore the footwear until inside the complex.

Temple Timings

Temple entrance. Took the photo after coming out.

Inside the Janam bhumi, there is 1 main temple and many sub-temples/places. The main temple is where there used to be a jail where Krishna was born. I tapped the walls of the main temple to check the hardness. Can definitely believe that it used to be a jail!

There are about 30 or so stairs to be climbed to reach the main temple. I did not see an elevator but may be there is. Midway on the climb, there is a place to go around the temple. In that pradakshanam, there is a sanctum for baby Krishna.

In the main area, there are many sanctums. The Krishna is made of white marble and stands aside Radha. To the left is the Sanctum of Baldev, Subhadra and Jagannath, similar to Puri. To the right is the shrine of Ram parivar. There are also shrines for Hanuman, Durga and some form of Shiva. The inside of the roof of the temple is adorned by beautiful art representing events in the life of Krishna. I felt that they were painted in reverse because one would have to face away from the god and lookup to see the paintings. Since the temple was not crowded early in the morning, I spent a good amount of time to absorb the feeling there and appreciate the paintings. While ding pradakshanam, an elder pointed to me that the walls were adorned with the Bhagavad Gita.

Once outside the main temple at the top, I went around to have a view. Peeping down from the top, I saw many plastic bottles in the sunshades. People fought hard to claim the land of Krishna, but are not maintaining it well! Or, maybe, I am too eager to pass judgement. Let us just blame it on the monkeys! That reminds me… beware of monkeys. They apparently steal spectacles and mobile phones and return them only if you buy them…. Fruiti! Guess they evolved from bananas as I saw many banana shops outside that the monkeys did not bother.

Outside the main temple, and still inside the temple campus, there is a Keshavji temple.

Inside the campus, there is also a long cave where events from Krishna's life are depicted with statutes. There was an entry fee of Rs.10 per person. Kids will definitely enjoy the place. For adults, I will suggest to skip it and save some time.

Outside the temple campus there is the temple pond called Potra Kund/Pavithra Kund, which was apparently used by Vasudevar.

Potra Kund, photo from the internet

Reaching the Dwarkadhish temple,

We took an auto-rickshaw (like a share auto) to travel to the Dwarkadhish temple from the Janam Bhoomi since the roads are too narrow for cars. The rick cost Rs. 25 per person. The rickshaw ride was bad due to the bad roads. The rick dropped us closer to the temple, but with still some way to walk – probably about 5 minutes of walk. We reached the temple around 9:30 AM and were informed that the temple would reopen only at 10 AM. By this time there were too many “guides” who started pestering us. They started with an ask of Rs.150 and eventually came down to Rs.20 as we kept ignoring them. At Rs.20, I wanted to check what they offered.

Yam-Yamuna temple

The guide took us through narrow lanes to the Yam-Yamuna temple aka Brother & Sister temple. I did not realize it then but the temple is apparently 5000 years old. The shrine had Yama and Yamuna, made of black marble/stone, with their hands raised to bless everyone. The pujari explained that Yam is Yamaraj for bad people and Dharmaraj for good people. He explained that once Yam had granted Yamuna a boon on Bhaituj, and Yamuna had asked that he bless anyone who comes to her ghats.

Yamuna and Yam, photo from the internet

The guide then started pestering us to buy Pooja stuff from the nearby shops. We did not intend to, and wanted to go to the ghat. At this time, the guide vanished. My driver explained that the guides make more money through the commissions from local sellers, than from the guide fee; so our guide had decided to ditch us since we were not buying anything from the shops!

Vishram Ghat

Vishram Ghat was only a stone’s throw away from the Yam-Yamuna temple. A Ghat (Tamil: படித்துறை) is a broad flight of steps leading down to a river. I was excited for my first visit to the Yamuna but was a bit disappointed with the blackish water that was close to the steps. There were boat rides in the water but I skipped them and headed back to the Dwarkadhish temple.

Vishram Ghat

Dwarkadhish temple

It was 9:50 and there were 10 minutes for the shrines to open. The temple was already bustling. Too many people in a small temple. By the time the clock hit 10, the crowd doubled. With some difficulty, I stayed put in a spot from where I could see the Lord. Krishna was made of black marble.