A short history of Vrindavan: from tulsi forest to temple town

The name says it all. "Vrinda" means tulsi (holy basil) and "van" means forest. Vrindavan is the forest of tulsi, the place where Krishna spent his childhood with Radha, the gopis and the cows of Braj.

A lost forest, found again

For centuries, the exact spots from Krishna's stories were forgotten. That changed in 1515, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Vrindavan to find the holy places linked to Krishna's life.

His followers, the Goswamis of Vrindavan, stayed on. They wrote books, found old deities and started temples. Rupa Goswami is said to have found the Govind Dev deity buried in a mound called Gomatila.

The first great temples

• Radha Damodar Temple, built in 1542
• Radha Vallabh Temple, built in 1585, the first temple here made of red sandstone
• Govind Dev Temple, built in 1590 by Raja Man Singh of Amber, with red sandstone gifted by Emperor Akbar

The Govind Dev temple once rose seven storeys high. In 1670, during Aurangzeb's rule, its deity was moved away. Today he is worshipped in Jaipur, while the red stone temple still stands in Vrindavan.

Vrindavan today

Vrindavan now has more than 5,000 temples. Pilgrims come all year for darshan, aarti, kirtan and the parikrama around the town. Old lanes and new marble temples stand side by side.

The best way to feel this history is slowly. Visit the old red stone temples in the morning, when it is quiet. In the evening, sit by the Yamuna at Keshi Ghat and watch the aarti lamps float on the water.