Mathurā

Mathurā is the ancient city on the banks of the Yamunā river. It is the birthplace of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and the seat of the Yādava kings. The Purāṇas call it the most sacred city in creation and the ancient abode of Bhagavān Vishṇu, who told Vedavyāsa: “My Mathurā is eternal.”

Cities such as Kāśī exist in the three worlds, but Mathurā alone is supremely virtuous among them. Birth in Mathurā, the sacred thread ceremony (upanayana) there, death there, or cremation there gives moksha (liberation) to all beings. The people who live in Mathurā are respected even by those who live in svarga (heaven), and their greatness cannot be measured. The Mathurā region is of the form of a thousand-petalled lotus, and the twelve sacred vanas of Vṛndāvana are its most important petals.

Kṛshṇa’s declaration to Vedavyāsa

At Badarīkāśrama, Vedavyāsa came to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa and asked how one can turn the mind towards the highest Brahman and cross the ocean of worldly life. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa answered by describing his own eternal form. He ended with these words about his city.

“Men with wicked hearts do not know my ancient city. It is great, it is charming and old, and it is praised by the chiefs of the devas and the serpents and by the ṛshis. There are cities like Kāśī, but Mathurā alone is virtuous among them. Birth in it, the sacred thread ceremony in it, death in it or cremation in it gives moksha to men.”

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa went on: “When men are purified by tapas (austerity) and other practices, when their hearts are pure and constant meditation is their wealth, then only do they see my city. They do not see it otherwise, even after hundreds of kalpas.”

The Padma Mahā Purāṇa gives this teaching in the Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 73.

The master of beings

In Mathurā lives the “master of beings”. He gives moksha even to those full of pāpa (sin), and he never leaves the city because of his love for Kṛshṇa. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa says: “That great master of beings, who is always most dear to me, never leaves the city because of his love for me.” He stays in Mathurā for ever as an act of devotion to Kṛshṇa.

Devotion to Śiva

The Padma Mahā Purāṇa gives a condition for seeing the self-shining divine form of Mathurā. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa asks: “How can that man full of pāpa, who does not worship my great devotee Śiva, gain devotion to me? Those low-minded men who do not bow to the master of beings, do not remember him and do not praise him are mostly deluded in mind by my Māyā.” In this way Bhagavān Kṛshṇa himself makes the worship of Bhagavān Śiva a first step towards his own city.

The region as a thousand-petalled lotus

The whole Mathurā region is shaped like a thousand-petalled lotus. The twelve vanas (sacred groves) are its most important petals, and the city itself lies inside this lotus. The Mathurā Māhātmya in the Pātāla Khaṇḍa is joined to the wider account of Vṛndāvana in Chapters 69 to 77. The Purāṇa says of the region: “Know my Mathurā to be eternal, and so also Vṛndāvana.” This puts it in the same class as the divine abode itself.

Moksha in Mathurā

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa says that Dhruva, by worshipping him, reached a place that even the grandsires find hard to reach. Then he says: “A man who is lame or blind may come to my city Mathurā, which the devas find hard to reach, and give up his life there.” Such a man reaches liberation whatever his earlier puṇya (merit). Any sincere effort made in this holy city is enough. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 73)

Madhu-vana and the founding by Śatrughna

The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa keeps the history of this land in the Tretā age. Before it was Mathurā, the place was called Madhu-vana, the forest of the ancient asura Madhu. Bhagavān Śiva had given Madhu an invincible trident (śūla).

Madhu’s son Lavaṇāsura received both the land on the banks of the Yamunā and the śūla. He used his power to trouble the ṛshis, to break up yajñas (fire rituals) and to eat brāhmaṇas. The ṛshi Cyavana brought this trouble to the notice of Bhagavān Rāma in Ayodhyā.

Bhagavān Rāma sent Śatrughna, who was an aṃśa (part) of Aniruddha, and gave him the Rāmāstra, Rāma’s own arrow, to kill the asura. Lavaṇāsura was weak at one time only: in the morning, when he went out to hunt, he left his trident inside his house. Śatrughna stood at his doorway before dawn. When Lavaṇāsura came out without his weapon, Śatrughna loosed Rāma’s arrow and killed him at his own threshold. The devas rained flowers in joy.

Śatrughna then founded the city again as Mathurā. He made the land, which the rule of the asura had made unclean, into a city of dharma. The land that Śatrughna made pure in the Tretā age became the birthplace of Kṛshṇa in the Dvāpara age. In this way the holy destiny of the tīrtha (pilgrimage place) ripened across the yugas.

Source: Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 242–247.

Śatrughna in the Uttara Kāṇḍa

The Uttara Kāṇḍa of Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa (Chapters 81–90) gives a fuller account of how Śatrughna set up the city, which it calls Madhurā. It says that Śatrughna waited outside the city for a full year, not just at the doorway on one morning. His patience was the key to his plan. He camped outside Madhurā, watched the habits of the rākshasa Lavaṇa, and waited for the day when Lavaṇa went hunting without his śūla.

The Uttara Kāṇḍa also says that Śatrughna ruled Madhurā for twelve years after he founded it. Then he made his son Subāhu king and went back to Ayodhyā. During Śatrughna’s reign Vālmīki came to Madhurā with Kuśa and Lava, who sang the Rāmāyaṇa in his court.

Mathurā after Kṛshṇa’s departure: Vajranābha’s kingdom

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya in the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa tells of Mathurā in the next generation after Kṛshṇa left the earth. When Yudhishṭhira set out on his mahāprasthāna (last journey), he crowned Vajranābha as king at Mathurā. Vajranābha was Kṛshṇa’s great-grandson and the son of Aniruddha. In this way Mathurā became the seat of the Vṛshṇi royal line that remained.

Vajranābha ruled from Mathurā, but he found the Vraja countryside around it empty. Emperor Parīkshit came to Mathurā and called the ṛshi Śāṇḍilya to explain this. On Śāṇḍilya’s advice, Vajranābha, with Parīkshit’s help, did the following.

• He brought thousands of guild-leaders from Indraprastha to settle the land again.
• He found and named all the places of Kṛshṇa’s play in Vraja.
• He founded the main settlements at Govardhana, Dīrghapura, Mathurā, Mahāvana, Nandigrāma and Bṛhatsānu.
• He set up mūrtis, built public works and spread devotion to Kṛshṇa.

Parīkshit honoured the brāhmaṇas of Mathurā, because he knew they had been Rāma’s monkeys in a former birth. In this way the Mathurā region became the centre of a devotional world after the time of Dvārakā.

Source: Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, Chapters 1–2.

Mathurā in the Mārgaśīrsha Māhātmya

The Mārgaśīrsha Māsa Māhātmya of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa (Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Chapter 17) says that the greatest glory of Mathurā is its bond with the month of Mārgaśīrsha. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa calls this month his own. He says that nothing in svarga, in the lower worlds, in the sky or in the world of mortals is as dear to him as Mathurā. It is the city of his birth, and he spent thirty-three thousand years there in the play of his childhood.

Merit in Mārgaśīrsha

• One day in Mathurā in Mārgaśīrsha gives the puṇya of a thousand years at Prayāga, the king of tīrthas.
• One Mārgaśīrsha day there equals a full thousand years at Vārāṇasī.
• Each step taken in Mathurā earns the puṇya of a tīrtha.
• A bath anywhere in the zones of Mathurā frees a person from terrible pāpa.
• A pāpa done in Mathurā itself, unlike a pāpa done at other tīrthas, ends in Mathurā itself.
• A pāpa that takes ten years to burn away elsewhere takes only ten days in Mathurā.

Liberation for all beings

Inside the boundary of Mathurā, even insects, worms and moths that die there reach sārūpya, the four-armed form of Vishṇu. Trees that fall from the river banks reach the highest goal. People who are dumb, blind or deaf, and who have kept no tapas or vows, go to the world of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa if they die there. Those who die by accident, by an animal’s attack, by fire or water, or before their time in Mathurā also go to his world.

The four kinds of liberation

Mathurā alone gives all four kinds of liberation: sālokya, sāmīpya, sārūpya and sāyujya. It gives them through four means: birth there, the sacred thread ceremony there, keeping vows there and giving gifts there. This is greater than Kāśī, which gives only one kind of liberation.

Pūrṇimā

The full-moon day of Mārgaśīrsha in Mathurā is the dearest day to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. All gifts, baths and śrāddha rites done on that day give lasting puṇya.

Pushkara for those who cannot come

For those who cannot reach Mathurā, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa names Pushkara. There the three kuṇḍas (sacred pools), of Brahmā, Vishṇu and Rudra, are to be worshipped as the rules direct.

Mathurā as Kṛshṇa’s birthplace

The Agni Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 12) says that Mathurā was the royal city of the Yādavas and the seat of King Ugrasena. His own son Kaṃsa took the throne from him and shut him in prison. Under Kaṃsa’s cruel rule the city became a place of fear. Vasudeva and Devakī were kept in its prison, and the eight children of Devakī were to be handed over to Kaṃsa to be killed.

In that prison, at midnight on the śrāvaṇa kṛshṇa shashṭhī, Bhagavān Vishṇu came down as Kṛshṇa. His four-armed divine form became a two-armed infant at the prayer of his parents. Vasudeva carried the child through the Yamunā, whose flood waters parted, to Nanda’s home in Gokula. After Kṛshṇa killed Kaṃsa in the wrestling arena, Ugrasena was set on the throne again, and Mathurā returned to just rule under the care of the Yādavas.

Mathurā in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa

The 10th Skanda of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa (Chapters 1–24) tells of Kṛshṇa’s birth in Mathurā and his childhood in Gokula and Vṛndāvana in great detail. It is the fullest account of these holy places in the Purāṇas.

Under Kaṃsa, Mathurā was a city of fear. The royal prison where Vasudeva and Devakī were kept is the most sacred spot in the Bhāgavata’s description of Mathurā, because Bhagavān Kṛshṇa was born there. On the night of the birth all was dark, the rain fell and the earth shook in an auspicious way. Good omens showed in the sky: stars shone without clouds, flowers rained down and the Gandharvas sang. The prison cell was full of the divine light of the four-armed child. The Bhāgavata sets the cruel city of Kaṃsa against the divine light inside the prison.

After Kaṃsa’s death, Mathurā came back under the rightful rule of Ugrasena. Kṛshṇa and Balarāma then lived in Mathurā, where they received their upanayana and their schooling.

Source: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapters 1–4.

Gokula

Gokula is the herding settlement on the far side of the Yamunā. Kṛshṇa spent his infancy and early childhood there in the care of Nanda and Yaśodā. The Bhāgavata describes it as a rich and festive settlement of gopas, now full of strange happenings as Kaṃsa’s agents came one by one. All the early childhood deeds took place here:

• Pūtanā vadha
• Śakaṭāsura vadha
• Tṛṇāvarta vadha
• the episodes of the universe in Kṛshṇa’s mouth
• Garga’s secret nāmakaraṇa (naming ceremony)
• the Dāmodara Līlā

Nalakūbara and Maṇigrīva had been standing in Nanda’s courtyard as twin arjuna trees. Their freeing by Kṛshṇa, as he dragged the mortar, is one of the best-known events of the Gokula years.

Upānanda advised the people to leave this dangerous place. The whole gopa settlement packed its goods and moved to Vṛndāvana, the wooded land across the Yamunā, which became the setting of Kṛshṇa’s boyhood deeds.

Source: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapters 5–11.

Vṛndāvana, the forest of līlā

Gokula and the wider Vṛndāvana region lie on the green banks of the Yamunā. The Agni Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 12) says that here, among the cows and the gopas, raised by Nanda and Yaśodā, Kṛshṇa did the following.

• He killed Pūtanā, who nursed with poison.
• He overturned the Śakaṭa asura.
• He subdued the great serpent Kāliya in the deep whirlpool of the Yamunā.
• He drove Dhenukāsura out of the Tālavana forest.
• He killed the bull-asura Arishṭāsura and the horse-asura Keśī.

The nearby hill Govardhana was the place of Kṛshṇa’s greatest early act of lordship. He lifted the mountain on one finger for seven days to shelter all the people of Gokula from the heavy rage of Indra. For this Indra himself gave him the name Govinda, the protector of the cows. When Akrūra called Kṛshṇa to Mathurā, the gopīs, who had loved him since his infancy, stood still and watched his chariot until it was gone. The grief and longing of that parting became a form of eternal bhakti (devotion).

The boyhood līlās in the Bhāgavata

In the Bhāgavata’s account, Vṛndāvana is the wooded region along the Yamunā where the gopas made their new settlement after they left Gokula. The deeds here grew greater in size and meaning:

• Aghāsura vadha, inside the body of the great serpent
• the Brahmā Vimohana Līlā, in which Brahmā tested Kṛshṇa and was shown the Paramātmā in every creature of Vṛndāvana
• Dhenukāsura vadha in the palm forest
• Kāliya Mardana in the Yamunā
• the two forest fires that Kṛshṇa swallowed
• Pralambāsura vadha
• the descriptions of the monsoon and autumn
• the Veṇu Gīta
• the Gopikā Vastrāpaharaṇa and the Kātyāyanī Vrata
• the Yajñapatnī Uddhāra
• the Govardhana Pūjā, which Kṛshṇa began in Chapter 24

Brahmā’s Stotra in Chapter 14 states the holy rank of Vṛndāvana and the lands around it. Brahmā says that to be born as an insect or a worm in the land of Mathurā and Vṛndāvana is greater than to be born as Brahmā himself in the highest world, because the Supreme has made his home here. Brahmā names the dust of Vṛndāvana, the water of the Yamunā and the cowherd boy who plays in these forests as Parabrahman in a form that all can approach.

Source: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapters 11–24.

Bṛndāvana, the divine city in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa

The building of the city

The Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa tells how the city was built. Kṛshṇa decided that the gopas and gopīs should move from Gokula to Bṛndāvana. He called Viśvakarma, the architect of the devas, and told him to build the perfect city for Rādhā and the gopīs. Viśvakarma agreed and finished the whole city in one night. It rose complete, with golden halls, streets set with jewels and bowers of divine trees. It was an earthly reflection of the eternal Bṛndāvana of Goloka.

Source: Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 17.

Three reasons for the name

Chapter 17 gives three reasons why the forest is called Bṛndāvana.

1. A daughter of King Kēdāra, named Bṛndā, was born from a part of Lakshmī. She did severe tapas in this very place for sixty thousand years. She was granted Kṛshṇa’s darśana and union with him, and in the end she reached Goloka. The forest bears her name because she did tapas here and because Kṛshṇa played here with her.
2. Tulasī, who is also called Bṛndā, was the daughter of Kuśadhvaja and the sister of Vedavatī. She also did her tapas in this same place. The learned therefore call the forest Bṛndāvana after Bṛndā-Tulasī as well.
3. The third reason is the most essential. “Bṛndā” is one of the sixteen sacred names of Rādhādevī herself. It means she who has the bṛnda, the company of her sakhīs (friends). Kṛshṇa made this forest on earth as a place of joy for Rādhā, and so it is called Bṛndāvana after her.

Source: Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 17.

The Yamunā made pure from Kāliya

The Yamunā near Mathurā had been poisoned by the great serpent Kāliya. He had taken shelter there because of the ṛshi Saubhari’s śāpa (curse) on Garuḍa, which forbade Garuḍa to take fish at that bend of the Yamunā. Kṛshṇa dived into the Yamunā, fought Kāliya, danced on his thousand hoods, and sent the great nāga away to Ramaṇaka dvīpa in the ocean. When Kāliya left, the water of the Yamunā at once became pure and sacred again. The place where Kṛshṇa dived and danced on Kāliya’s hoods became a tīrtha.

Source: Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 19.

Mathurā Māhātmya in the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa

In the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 79, the Vasu–Mohinī saṃvāda (talk) goes on with the Mathurā Māhātmya. It says that Śrī Hari was born in Mathurā at Brahmā’s prayer and went from there to Nanda-Gokula. In Nanda-Gokula he played with the gopas, killed Pūtanā and the other rākshasas sent by Kaṃsa, and wandered with the gopīs through the dvādaśa-vana, the twelve sacred forests. The Uttarardha lists the twelve forests and the special tīrthas of Mathurā.

The twelve forests

Mathurā-maṇḍala and its tīrthas

The Mathurā-maṇḍala (circle) reaches twenty yojanas in every direction. A bath anywhere in this whole maṇḍala gives devotion to Vishṇu. The city of Mathurā is the crown jewel of the maṇḍala, and the mere sight of it brings devotion to Mādhava. Śrī Hari is present in Mathurā in his Catur-vyūha form, as Vārāha, Nārāyaṇa, Vāmana and Haladhara, and he gives liberation to all who live there. A person who does not see Keśava while in the Mathurā-maṇḍala has wasted that birth and will go on wandering in saṃsāra.

The Uttarardha names these main tīrthas of Mathurā:

• Viśrānti-tīrtha: bathing with devotion leads to Vaishṇava-pada.
• Vimukta-tīrtha (south of Viśrānti): sure moksha.
• Rāma-tīrtha (further south): freedom from the bonds of ignorance.
• Saṃsāra-mokshaṇa-tīrtha: Vishṇu-loka.
• Prayāga-tīrtha within Mathurā (to the south, hard for the devas to reach): bathing gives the fruit of the agni-homa.
• Kanaka-tīrtha: after death, svarga and play in Nandana.
• Tindu-tīrtha: the fruit of the Rājasūya; svarga.
• Shatusvāmi-tīrtha (dear to Sūrya): bathing and the sight of Sūrya lead to svarga.
• Dhruva-tīrtha: bathing and the sight of Dhruva lead to Vishṇu-pada.
• Saptarshi-tīrtha: the sight of the Seven Ṛshis leads to Ṛshi-loka.
• Ksha-tīrtha: bathing alone frees one from all great pāpa.
• Bodhinī-tīrtha: offering piṇḍa to the pitṛs brings them to svarga.
• Koṭi-tīrtha: bathing leads to Vishṇu-loka.
• Asikuṇḍa (north of Viśrānti): Vishṇu-pada.
• Nava-tīrtha: svarga.
• Saṃyamana-tīrtha: bathing and giving mean one never sees Yama-loka.
• Dhārāyatana-tīrtha: bathing brings joy with the pitṛs.
• Nāga-tīrtha: freedom from fear of serpents.
• Ghaṇṭābharaṇa-brahma-tīrtha: Brahma-loka.
• Soma-tīrtha: Soma-loka.
• Prācī-Sarasvatī: bathing makes one Vāgīśvara, master of speech.
• Cakra-tīrtha: victory over enemies, and seven yugāntaras in svarga.
• Daśāśvamedha-tīrtha: the fruit of the Aśvamedha.
• Gokarna-Śiva: all desires are met; Śiva-loka.
• Vighna-rāja-tīrtha: all work is finished without obstacle.
• Ananta-tīrtha: the fruit of twenty-four tīrthas together.

Source: Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 79.

Vṛndāvana Māhātmya in the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa

The Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 80, gives the inner secret (rahasya) of Vṛndāvana through Nārada Mahāmuni’s own visit to the āśrama of Bṛndā-devī. The chapter opens with Vasu saying to Mohinī: “I received this teaching from my guru, who received it from Nārada Mahāmuni. Nārada himself received the Gopikāpati-rahasya from Bṛndā-devī.” Vṛndāvana is said to have no equal anywhere in the circle of the earth for its holy glory.

Nārada at Pushpa-Sarasī

The Pushpa-Sarasī, the flower-lake of Vṛndāvana, lies to the south-west of the Mathurā-maṇḍala. Nārada Mahāmuni came there, rested in the shade of a great tree, drank the cool water of the lake, did his midday rites and stood on the bank. He then entered the āśrama of Bṛndā-devī, where Śrī Hari himself rests with his companions in the midday hours.

Bṛndā-devī welcomed Nārada as her guest (atithi), honoured him with fruits and a seat, and then, with her knowledge of the Self, saw his deepest wish through dhyāna-yoga (meditation). She sent her companion Mādhavī to lead Nārada and to grant his request.

The changing power of Pushpa-Sarasī

At Mādhavī-devī’s word, Nārada dived into the Pushpa-Sarasī on its north-west side, meditating on Śrī Kṛshṇa’s meeting. When he came out of the water, he had become a woman, Nāradī-devī. Viśākhā and the other sakhīs of Kṛshṇa’s inner circle led Nāradī through the palace with walls of gems to Bhagavān Gopīkāpati himself.

After this close meeting, Nāradī went back to the Pushpa-Sarasī. At Mādhavī’s word she bathed on its south-west side. When she came out, she had her male form again. This shows the special power of the Pushpa-Sarasī: bathing in its set directions can give the experience of Kṛshṇa’s inner circle.

Bṛndā-devī shows the Gopikā-pati rahasya

After Nārada had his own form again, Bṛndā-devī told him the whole daily round of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa in Vṛndāvana. He rises at his mother’s call, bathes and eats. He goes to the forest with his companions and the cows. At midday he rests in Bṛndā’s āśrama, while Rādhā and the sakhīs tend him with cāmara fans. When three quarters of the day have passed, he wakes himself and lovingly looks after his dear companions. In the evening he returns home happily with the gopas and the cows.

She also told him the secret of Kubja-devī. She is a woman of very great beauty who lives in an underground shrine in Vṛndāvana. She is the closest attendant of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, and only Bṛndā knows her. One hundred crore mithuna-dvandvas (divine couples, each like the first pair, Kṛshṇa and his beloved) live for ever in the groves of Vṛndāvana. They are always new and are beyond the reach of saṃsāra.

Holy kuṇḍas and tīrthas of Vṛndāvana

The main tīrthas inside the Vṛndāvana-maṇḍala are these.

• Brahma-kuṇḍa: where Brahmā was shown Kṛshṇa’s form as the Paramātmā. Bathing while meditating on Gopīkāpati gives a direct vision of the glory of his eternal play.
• Govinda-kuṇḍa: where Indra, knowing the truth, meditated on Govinda. Bathing gives darśana of Govinda’s glory.
• Tattva-prakāśa-tīrtha: in the water of the Yamunā, where Nanda and the other gopālas saw the glory of Śrī Hari.
• The Kāliya-mardana place: where Kṛshṇa danced on Kāliya’s hoods. It removes all pāpa.
• The Dāvāgni-rakshaṇa place: where Kṛshṇa saved the gopas from the forest fire. Bathing takes away all pāpa.
• The Keśī-vadha place: where Kṛshṇa killed the horse-asura Keśī. Bathing leads to Śrī Hari-loka.
• Arishṭa-kuṇḍa: where Kṛshṇa killed the bull-asura Vṛshāsura. Bathing gives mukti.
• Śrī-kuṇḍa: where Rādhā-devī did tapas. Bathing, giving and japa lead to the unending state (akshaya-gati).
• All the places where Śrī Kṛshṇa killed Dhenukāsura, Aghāsura, Bakāsura, Vatsāsura, Vyomāsura and Lambāsura are pure tīrthas. Bathing there and offering water to the pitṛs gives all desired things by Kṛshṇa’s grace.

The whole Vṛndāvana-maṇḍala, with all the places where Bhagavān Kṛshṇa slept, ate, walked, heard and saw, is a set of vilakshaṇa-kshetras, unlike any other holy field. One who bathes at these eighty spots gains svarga. The full size of the Vṛndāvana-maṇḍala is five yojanas.

The origin of Govardhana

The Uttarardha tells how Govardhana came to be. In an earlier kalpa, a brāhmaṇa named Govardhana did tapas with complete freedom from desire for saṃsāra. Śrī Hari appeared before him and asked him to choose a vara (a boon). Govardhana asked Bhagavān Vishṇu to stay on his back. After thinking, Śrī Hari stood on the brāhmaṇa’s back. Govardhana said he would never ask Hari to come down. So Bhagavān Vishṇu took the form of the hill that now bears Govardhana’s name.

In the Kṛshṇa avatāra, Śrī Hari knew the hill as the form of his brāhmaṇa devotee Govardhana, and he had Nanda and the gopas worship it as equal to himself. To worship Govardhana, to walk round it (pradakshiṇā) and to offer the upacāras (honours of worship) all lead to the state of no rebirth.

Phalaśruti

Bṛndāvana is so high that its darśana makes a birth complete. Its dwellers, whether men, women, monkeys, insects, birds, trees, mountains or animals, all chant the names of Rādhā and Kṛshṇa without stopping. Those whose minds are hidden by Kṛshṇa’s Māyā and burnt by desire cannot see Vṛndāvana even in dreams. Those who give up all other forests, rivers and mountains and take Vṛndāvana alone as their refuge lack nothing in all three worlds. Even to say the name “Vṛndāvana” brings devotion to Nandanandana. Even Parameśvara with Parvatī meditates there in secret on Bhagavān Kṛshṇa, helpless in devotion. Even to hear or read this Vṛndāvana Māhātmya makes a person equal to Vishṇu.

Source: Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapter 80.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 73 (and Chapters 69–77 on Vṛndāvana)
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa Māhātmya, Chapters 1–2
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Mārgaśīrsha Māsa Māhātmya, Chapter 17
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 242–247
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 81–90
• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 12
• Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapters 17 and 19
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapters 1–24
• Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarardha, Chapters 79–80