CONTENTS
Abbreviations VII Preface ix
Introduction
1 The landscape 1
2 The local inhabitants 4
3 The devotional sects 8
4 Varieties of pilgrimage 12
5 Rules and regulations 19
The myth
1 The scriptural sources 22
2 The setting 27
3 The birth of Krishna 30
4 Krishna overturns a cart (sakatarohana) 32
5 Putana (putanavadha) 32
6 The whirlwind demon (trnavartavadha) 32
7 Garga's visit 32
8 Krishna eats dirt 33
9 Krishna is tied to a mortar (ulukhalabandhana) 33
10 The encampment is moved to Vrindaban and other demons attack
Krishna 34
11 Brahma spirits away the calves and cowherd boys 34
12 The defeat of Kaliya (kaliyadamand) 34
13 Dhenuka (dhenukasuravadha) 35
14 Two forest fires (davanala/davdgni) 35
15 Pralamba (pralambasuravadha) 35
16 Krishna steals the Gopis' clothes (vastra-jciraharana) 35
17 The brahmins' wives (yajnapatni-) 36
18 Krishna lifts up Govardhan (govardhanadharana) 36
19 Nanda is abducted 37
20 Krishna dances with the Gopi 37
21 The pilgrimage to Ambikavana 38
22 Shankhachuda 38
23 Arishta 38
24 Keshi 39
25 Vyoma 39
26 Akrura fetches Krishna and Balarama 39
27 The return to Mathura 39
28 Kansa is slain 40
29 Uddhava's message 40
30 Krishna and Balarama move to Dwarka 41
31 Balarama visits the Gopis 42
32 Later sources and developments 42
33 Radha 47
34 The entourage of Krishna and Radha 49
35 Krishna extorts curd from the Gopis 53
36 Lila of the eight watches of the day 55
37 The marriage of Krishna and Radha 57
38 Narada and Shiva change sex 58
39 How Govardhan came to Braj 59
40 The reclamation of Braj 60
Devotion in theory and practice
1 Emotion and aesthetics 62
2 Tantric influence 65
3 The nature of Krishna's love 67
4 Love in separation (viraha) 69
5 Eschatology 70
6 The ontology of the sacred places 71
7 Manifestations of devotion 76
8 Idols and epithets 78
9 Looking at idols (darsan) 82
10 Offering food 83
11 Music, chanting, drama, and preaching 85
12 Individual and solitary practices 88
13 Cows, milk, and ras 89
14 Femininity 91
15 Fantasies 96
16 Motivations for pilgrimage 103
Ancient and early medieval Braj
1 The devotee's view of history 109
2 Dynasties of ancient Mathura 110
3 Buddhism 112
4 Jainism 113
5 Non-Vaishnava Hindu cults 114
6 The cult of Vasudeva/Krishna 116
7 Balarama 120
8 The end of Hindu power in Braj 122
9 The location of ancient Mathura 124
10 Mounds outside the modern circumambulation of Mathura 124
11 TheKatra 125
12 Finds at other places along the circumambulation of Mathura 126
13 Sites in the vicinity of Maholi 128
14 Sites west and north-west of Maholi 128
15 Finds in and around Vrindaban 129
16 Finds in the vicinity of Govardhan 130
17 Finds in the north-western part of Mathura District 130
18 Finds at Kaman 131
19 Finds east of the Yamuna 132
Braj since the thirteenth century
1 Braj under the Delhi Sultanate (1194-1526) 134
2 The arrival of a new kind of Krishna worship 136
3 Chaturanaga (Nagaji) 140
4 Vallabha 141
5 Chaitanya 143
6 Political developments from 1516 to 1556 144
7 The Six Goswamis and other contemporary Gaudiya devotees 145
8 Vitthalnath's succession to leadership of the Pushtimarg 151
9 Hit Harivansh 155
10 Swami Haridas 156
11 Shribhatt 157
12 Akbar and his Hindu associates 157
13 Vitthalnath's expansion of the Pushtimarg 160
14 The Ashtachhap poets 165
15 Some Gaudiya devotees of the late sixteenth century 166
16 The Radhavallabh Sampraday 168
17 Followers of Swami Haridas 170
18 Harivyasdev and other devotees of the Nimbark Sampraday 171
19 The Sampradays of Ramanuja and Ramanand 172
20 The reigns 'of Jahangir and Shah Jahan (1605-58) 173
21 Bir Singh Deo of Orchha 175
22 The Pushtimarg in the first half of the seventeenth century 177
23 Some devotees in Vrindaban during the first half of the seventeenth century 179
24 Aurangzeb (1658-1707) 180
25 The exodus of deities from Braj 183
26 Rajaram and Churaman 187
27 Sawai Jai Singh 188
28 Religious activity in the time of Sawai Jai Singh 191
29 Badan Singh 194
30 Suraj Mal 196
31 Suraj Mal's successors 200
32 The period of Maratha supremacy 204
33 Devotional activity in the latter part of the eighteenth century 207
34 Pax Britannica 213
35 Patronage in the nineteenth century 215
36 The Gaudiya Sampraday in modern times 218
37 The Nimbark Sampraday in modern times 219
38 The Pushtimarg in modern times 221
39 New arrivals 224
Texts dealing with places of pilgrimage in Braj
1 Earliest references 226
2 Lakshmidhara (KK) and the original Varahapurana 228
3 Jinaprabha Suri (VTK) 231
4 The Mathuramdhatmya of the extant Varahapurana (VP) 232
5 The Mathuramdhatmya attributed to Rup Goswami (R) 235
6 Mitra Mishra's Mathuramdhatmya (VM) 238
7 Anantadev's Mathurdsetu (MS) 239
8 Skandapurdna (SP) 240
9 Interrelationship of texts so far discussed 242
10 Naradapurana (NP) 243
11 Adipurdna (AP) 244
12 Bhusundirdmdyana (BRam) 245
13 The yogapitha theme (PP, GLA, VRC, AY etc.) 246
14 Narayan Bhatt (VBV, VOC) 252
15 Vrajavildsastava (VVS) and shorter eulogies 255
16 Chaitanya's visit to Braj (KCC, CM, CC) 256
17 Narahari Chakravarti (BRat) and Sundarlal 258
18 Gargasamhitd (GS) 259
19 Shorter texts dealing with Govardhan 261
20 Govardhan in the vdrtd literature 261
21 Caurasi baithak caritra (CBC) 263
22 Jagatanand (GVY, VGV, VVV) 264
23 PTtdmbardas kl varta (PV) 265
24 Ban yatra parikrama (BYP) 266
25 Brajmandal kamalakar bhavna (8KB) 267
26 Brajnath(BP) 268
27 Other Pushtimarg texts 269
28 Braj poets 270
29 The account of a pilgrim from Bikaner (BYV) 270
30 Nagaridas (TA) 270
31 Somnath and Sudan (SC) 271
32 Chandralal, Abhayram, and Gopal Kavi (VDA) 271
33 Nawal Singh Pradhan (BBP) and Lakshminarayan Singh , 273
34 Modern published sources 273
Some varieties of sacred place in Braj
1 The origins of pilgrimage in Braj 275
2 The primordiality of Govardhan 278
3 The original deity of Govardhan 280
4 Govardhan and serpent worship 286
5 The worship of Govardhan stones 288
6 Stone worship in general 289
7 The Yamuna 290
8 Bathing places 292
9 Groups of five bathing places (panctirth) 294
10 Wells 295
11 Trees 296
12 Forests, groves, and arbours 299
13 Goddesses 302
14 Shiva 303
15 The samadhi, baithak, and bhajan kutl 304
16 Parallels, imitation, and influence 306
The pilgrimage itinerary 309
Plates 429
Appendices
1 An obsolete itinerary for the circumambulation of Mathura 460
2 The forests and banyans listed by Narayan Bhatt 467
3 Places listed by Jagatanand and in Ban yatra parikrama 472
4 Some pilgrimage schedules 478
5 Fairs and festivals of Braj 482
Bibliography 492
Index 521
Key to maps 553
Maps
1 The pilgrimage circuit of Braj
2 Mathura
3 Vrindaban