Considered to be the birth place of Lord Krishna,
Mathura, a
small town on the River Yamuna in the state of Uttar Pradesh, is an
important place of pilgrimage in the country. Krishna is supposed to be
the best known, best loved and most complex of Lord Vishnu's
manifestations. It is a place of temples and shrines bustling with the
thousands of devotees who come to visit this place of Lord Krishna.
There is the splendid temple at the
Katra Keshav Dev which marks
the spot believed to be Shri Krishna
Janmasthan by his devotees.
There is another beautiful shrine, the
Gita Mandir, on the
Mathura-Vrindavan Road which has a fine image of Shri Krishna in its
sanctum. The whole of the Bhagwad Gita is inscribed on the walls of this
temple. Another most popular shrine at Mathura is the
Dwarikadhish
Temple to the north of the town.
Vishram Ghat is the most
important of all the 25 ghats in Mathura today. It is believed that Shri
Krishna took his rest here after killing
Kansa. The
aarti
held at the Vishram Ghat is a spectacular sight. It is also said that no
pilgrimage to Mathura is complete without a visit to its kunds.
According to tradition, there were 159 ancient kunds in all. Of these
only four can be seen. These are the
Shiv Tal Kund, Potara Kund ,
Balbhadra Kund and Saraswati Kund. The town has also a number of
Shaivite temples.
