Shrinathji Temple

Legend and history

The svarupam, the divine form of Shrinathji, is said to be self-manifested. According to legends, Krishna self-manifested from a stone and emerged from the Govardhan Hills. In 1466, a Braj resident went to Govardhan Mountain to search for his lost cow when he saw the raised left arm of Shri Govardhanathji. He called other Braj residents to show this to them.

Then, an old Braj resident said Lord Shri Krishna protected the Braj residents, the cows of Braj, and Braj itself from the wrath of Indra by carrying Giriraj Govardhan on the finger of his left Consequently, the people of Braj worshipped his left arm. He is standing in the Lord Kandara and now only his left arm is being shown. No one should try to extract the form of God by digging a mountain. His form will be visible only when he wishes. For the next 69 years, the people of Braj used to bathe this upper arm with milk and worship it. An annual fair started being held there on Naga Panchami.

In 1535, a supernatural incident happened in the afternoon of Vaishakh Krishna Ekadashi. Amongst thousands of cows belonging to Saddu Pandey of Anyor village, near Govardhan Mountain, one belonged to the cow dynasty of Nandarayji, called Dhoomar. Every day at 3:00 p.m. she reached where the left arm of Shri Govardhan Nathji had appeared. There was a hole in which the cow returned a stream of milk from its udder. Pandey suspected the cowherd milked the Dhoomar cow in the afternoon, as the cow did not give milk in the evening. One day, he followed the cow to observe the situation; he saw the cow stood at Govardhan Hill and milk started flowing from its udders. Pandey was surprised; when he went near him, he saw the Mukharvind of Shri Govardhan Nathji. On the same day, Shri Vallabhacharya appeared in Champaran, Chhattisgarh. Shri Govardhannathji said to Pandey - "My name is Devdaman, and my other names are Indradaman and Nagdaman." Pandey's wife, Bhavani, and daughter, Naron, used to go to Devdaman daily to get the milk of Dhoomar cow, for healing.

Historically, the image of Shrinathji was first worshipped at Govardhan hill, near Mathura. The image was moved from Mathura in 1672 CE along the river Yamuna and was retained at Agra for almost six months to safeguard it from the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb. Subsequently, the image was transferred further south via chariot to a safer place, to protect it from destruction by Aurangzeb. When the deity reached the spot at village Sihad, the wheels of the bullock cart in which the deity was being transported sank axle-deep in mud and could not be moved any further. The accompanying priests realised that this place was the Lord's chosen spot and thus, a temple was built there under the rule and protection of the then Maharana Raj Singh of Mewar. Shrinathji Temple is also known as 'Haveli of Shrinathji' (mansion). The temple was built by Goswami Damodar Das Bairagi in 1672.

Holkar's attack and Shrinathji's rescue by Maharana

In 1802, Jaswant Rao Holkar moved to Mewar after being defeated by Daulat Rao Sindhia and advanced towards Nathdwara to plunder the town and the temple. News of Holkar's march was received in Nathdwara and Goswamiji asked Maharana Bhim Singh for help. An escort was sent of Thakurs of Delwara, Kunthwa, Argya, Mohi, Kothariya to escort the deity to Udaipur. Goswamiji reached Udaipur with the image of Shrinathji, Navin Priyaji, and Vitthal Nathji on 29 January 1802. At Unawas, Thakur Vijay Singh of Kothariya and his men fought with Holkar's army and were killed in battle. Holkar's army soon reached Nathdwara. Holkar's men first plundered the town mercilessly and then demanded 10 Lakh rupees. With the mediation of Seth Balachand, the amount was brought down to 1 Lakh. Singhvi Motichand was sent to negotiate further, but Holkar arrested him, broke the locks of the temple, and looted the valuables. Holkar's army then plundered the entire district before marching to Banera.

Later, Shrinathji temple at Ghasiyar was built, where the deity was shifted from Udaipur. After a few years, the deity was returned to Nathdwara. The temple of Shrinathji at Ghasiyar is still open.

In the 1870s the temple became the object of a prolonged confrontation between its hereditary head, Tilkayat Giridhar, and the darbar of Mewar. In 1875 the Regency Council governing Mewar during the minority of Maharana Sajjan Singh, chaired by the British officer Colonel Herbert, resolved to depose Giridhar, and on 8 May 1876 the darbar's troops seized him at Nathdwara in a bloodless operation and escorted him to Udaipur, installing his minor son Govardhanlal (r. 1876–1934) as tilkayat. Govardhanlal was made to acknowledge the suzerainty of the maharana; the administrative and judicial authority previously exercised by the tilkayat was revoked, and the darbar appointed a manager to supervise the temple's affairs and revenues, leaving the performance of seva to Shrinathji under Govardhanlal's supervision.

In 1934, an order was issued by the Udaipur King, Darbar, by which, among other things, declared that all property dedicated, presented, or otherwise coming to the deity Shrinathji was property of the shrine. The Tilkayat Maharaj and the manager and trustee of the property were merely custodians at the time; the Udaipur Darbar had absolute right to supervise that the 562 properties dedicated to the shrine were used for legitimate purposes.

Legend

According to the hagiography of the Pushtimarg, Shrinathji travelled to Mewar to play chaupar (an antecedent to pachisi) with a princess called Ajab Kunvari. She was upset whenever Shrinathji would go back to Braj and asked him to stay with her in the palace. Shrinathji said that one day, when the time was right, he would re-locate to Rajasthan.

Presently, Shrinathji's worship is performed by direct male descendants of Vallabha in a haveli (lit. palatial home) in Nathdwara, Rajasthan.

Economy and livelihoods in Nathdwara town revolve around the haveli, the term used for the temple as it was situated in a fortified mansion, or haveli, once a royal palace of the Sesodia Rajput rulers of Mewar.

Shrinathji was popular with other medieval devotees as there were preachers who founded Shrinathji temples in present-day Pakistan (Dera Ghazi Khan). This was done by Shri Lal Maharaj Ji and his deity of Shri Gopi Nath Ji and Shri Dau Ji of Dera Ghazi Khan, earlier a part of undivided India and not far from here. Shrinathji was even worshiped as far away as Volga, Russia, and other places on the Central Asian trade routes.