Mathura, as the birthplace of Sri Krishna and home to the Krishna Janambhoomi temple, is one of the most sacred cities of Bharat. Sri Krishna played a central role in the Mahabharata and his teaching in the Bhagavad Gita guides. millions of people around the world. His rasa-lila with the gopis represents the dance of divinity within each one of us.
Mathura was a great centre of trade in ancient India also the origin of the famous school of sculptural art known now as the Mathura school. The area surrounding Mathura forms part of Vraja kshetra, the location of Krishna's childhood pranks and activities, that is a pilgrimage circuit for the devotees.
Mathura was looted and its temples desecrated several times during the Muslim rule and each time it rose from the ashes.
The Krishna Janambhoomi-also known as the Kesavadev Temple was last destroyed on the orders of Aurangzeb in 1670. Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, 17th-century French gem merchant and traveler, visited the temple before its last destruction, calling it one of the grandest buildings in all of India, with a tower visible from more than 5 or 6 kos (about 15 to 18 kilometers), and he left a detailed description of the temple.
Manoshi Sinha's absorbing book Reclaiming Mathura: Historical Analysis of Krishna Janambhoomi is a superb account of the history of Mathura from the earliest times. It begins with the descriptions of the city in ancient texts and its archaeological record, the ups and downs it saw in medieval times, and its story in the modern era. In many ways, Mathura encapsulates Bharat's story, and the reclaiming of Mathura and the Kesavadev temple mirrors Bharat's reawakening.
Maasir-i-Alamgiri, which is a contemporaneous account of Aurangzeb's reign, informs us that after the Kesavadev Temple was destroyed in 1670, the vigrahas, "large and small, set with costly jewels, were brought to Agra, and buried under the steps of the mosque of the Begam Sahib, in order to be continually trodden upon. The name of Mathura was changed to Islamabad."
But why did Aurangzeb destroy an architectural wonder, full of great art? To understand this, note that India is a civilization of knowledge, and temples played an important role in the transmission of this knowledge as they housed schools that were devoted not only to devotion, yoga, and philosophy, but also to the arts, including sculpture, music, and dance. Aurangzeb's order to destroy the temple was part of the Islamic rule's campaign to stamp out Indian knowledge. Images and beautiful buildings were smashed and the practice of high arts and dance was forbidden. This desecration went on for over a thousand years and in north India literally no ancient temples remain; the latest chapter in this vandalism was the pulling down of the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001.
The historian of Hinduism, Klaus Klaustermaier says this of the artistic value of Hindu temples, "With regard to the size and number of temples and images, Hindu India has no equal in the world; compared with temple cities like Srirangam, Madurai, Khajuraho, or Bhuvanesvara, Western religious centers and even cathedrals look modest and poor." Now imagine what is lost, given that literally everything in north India was vandalized.
The The term 'Braj' or 'Vraj' has its roots in the ancient Sanskrit word vraja, which refers to a space for cattle and herdsmen to rest. It refers to the countryside where Krishna tended his cattle and where all the holy sites, linked to his early years, are situated. The Bhagavat Purana identifies Vraj with Gokul and Vrindavan besides refering to the same region as 'Nand's Vraj' or 'Vraj of Nand. Vraj also defines the specific region where the Braj dialect of Hindi is commonly spoken besides geographically spanning the area across both banks of the Yamuna River covering parts of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh with Mathura and Vrindavan as the focal points. During ancint times, this region was also called the Surashena kingdom besides being a mahajanapada. The Vraj pilgrimage circuit covers a wide expanse surrounding Mathura, with the Yamuna River cutting through the eastern part of this area flowing past Shergarh, Vrindavan, Mathura, and Gokul, separating the many sacred sites on its western bank from the few on the eastern bank. Reclaiming Mathura: Historical Analysis of Krishna Janambhoomi delves more on Mathura in particular and the places around Mathura pertaining to Krishna in general, right from Treta Yug to present times.
Krishna was a multi-faceted, accomplished, and ideal personality, endowed with many virtues. He was a doting son. He was a Yogpurush, the savior, the protector, the Supreme Being, and an efficient ruler. He was a proficient political diplomat, who actively negotiated to bring about peaceful resolutions to prevent the Mahabharata war. He propounded the Bhagavad Gita, wherein Dharma prevailed over Adharma, i.e. the triumph of righteousness over unrighteousness.
The Bhagavad Gita has served as a timeless source of inspiration for countless generations of Bharatiyas for millennia and will continue inspiring till eternity. This sacred text, imparting the teachings of Krishna as recounted by Ved Vyasa, has also provided solace and guidance to many foreigners who have sought its wisdom. Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American essayist, lecturer, and poet wrote about the Bhagavad Gita, "1 owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavat Geeta. It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spake to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, its voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us." Amos Bronson Alcott, an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer considered the Bhagavad Gita, "superior to any of the other Oriental scriptures, the best of all reading for wise men. "fal American yogi Henry David Thoreau wrote on the philosophies found in the Gita thus, "The reader is nowhere raised into and sustained in a higher, purer, or rarer region of thought than in the Bhagvat-Geeta,
Despite his noble qualities, Krishna has often been misrepresented, falsely depicted as a mere romantic figure engaging in love affairs with Radha and the gopis, overlooking the divine and spiritual aspect of those relationships. In the western world, the teachings of the Gita are greatly valued for their wisdom. However, in the birthplace of the Gita, these teachings are often overlooked and hardly given importance.
Hindu (948)
Agriculture (125)
Ancient (1105)
Archaeology (814)
Architecture (568)
Art & Culture (933)
Biography (731)
Buddhist (550)
Cookery (166)
Emperor & Queen (588)
Islam (245)
Jainism (325)
Literary (888)
Mahatma Gandhi (393)
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Visual Search
Manage Wishlist