celebrating birth of Bhagwan Sree Krishna ~ Braj bhoomi

தண்ணன் தாமரை கண்ணனே !  கண்ணா !  வேய்ங்குழல் ஊதும் ஆயனே ! எங்கள் போரேறே - இவ்வுலகத்தோர் அனைவரையும் காப்பீராக !  -   கிருஷ்ணனின் புகழ் கீதம் பாடு .. ..  கிருஷ்ண பரமாத்மாவின்  ஜனன தினத்தன்று இல்லங்களில் அவன்  திருப்பாதம் வரைந்து,  அவரை வரவேற்று, பழங்கள், பக்ஷணங்கள் செய்து அவருக்கு சமர்ப்பித்து,  அவரது விக்கிரஹங்களை அலங்கரித்து, நல்ல மணமுள்ள மாலைகள் சூட்டி,  கண்ணனது பிறப்பை வெகு விமர்சையாக கொண்டாடுகிறோம்.

Of the many sweets, there is “Mathura Peda”  reddish-brown sweet dishes lined up in a sweet shop that can allure you !  .. and long back have seen a Sweetshop by name ‘Brajwasi Sweets’.  Understand that there is a shop in Kalbadevi which is decades old – not sure whether other shops have copied or .. .. but they refer uniquely to the land of Bhagwan Sreekrishna was learnt much later by me !!

சூரசேனர்  என்பவர்  யது குல வம்சத்தினர் -  சூரசேன நாட்டை  ஆண்டவர்.  இந்த சூரசேன நாடு தற்கால மதுரா.  சூரசேனர் கிருஷ்ணரின் தந்தை வழி தாத்தா ஆவார். 

சூரசேனரின் மகன் வசுதேவர், கம்சனின் தங்கையான தேவகி மற்றும் ரோகிணி தேவி ஆகியோரின் கணவர் ஆவார். மேலும் பாண்டவர்களின் தாயான குந்தி சூரசேனரின் மகளாவார். இவரின் மகனாக வசுதேவர் – தேவகிக்கும் பிறந்தவரே கிருட்டிணன் ஆவார். வசுதேவரின் முதல் மனைவியான ரோகிணிக்குப் பிறந்தவர்களே பலராமன் மற்றும் சுபத்திரை ஆவர்.

Mathura is the holy place where Lord Krishna was born…. ~ the centre of what is fondly referred as Braj bhoomi.  Remember Lord was born in a prison cell at Mathura, the capital of   Surasena kingdom ruled by Kamsa, the maternal uncle of the Lord.  This is a very old place dating back to Ramayana days.  According to the Archeologists, the Ikshwaku prince Shatrughna slayed a demon called Lavanasura and claimed this  land.  By some accounts this place was a densely wooded Madhuvan.   This place was closely associated with history too.  Centuries later,  Mathura was one of the capitals of Kushan dynasty. Megasthenes, writing in the early 3rd century BCE, mentions Mathura as a great city.

Braj, also known as Brij or Brijbhoomi, is a region in India on both sides of the Yamuna river with its centre at Mathura-Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh state encompassing the area which also includes Palwal and Ballabhgarh in Haryana state, Bharatpur district in Rajasthan state and Morena District in Madhya Pradesh.  Within Uttar Pradesh it is very well demarcated culturally, the area stretches from the Mathura, Aligarh, Agra, Hathras and Jaleshar districts up to the Farrukhabad, Mainpuri and Etah districts.  

Braj is the land of Sree Krishna – born in Mathura, grew up in Vrindavan, Gokul and Govardhan .. .. the term Braj is derived from the Sanskrit word vraja (व्रज). Vraja was first mentioned in Rigveda, and in Sanskrit it means a pasture, shelter or resort for cattle from Sanskrit term "vraj" which means "go" in English. It is located 150 km south of Delhi and 50 km northwest of Agra.

The land of Braj is full of sacred places, reverred on account of their being the reputed haunts and homes of Krishna. The pilgrims can never rest until they have made the round of these holy shrines, and hence, especially upon the occasion of Krishna's birthday, called JanmAshtami, falling in the month Bhadon, corresponding with our August-September, in the midst of the rainy season, they may be found by the thousands making the Ban Jathra, or perambulation of Braj. 

According to Gazetter of India, Uttar Pradesh, the district of Mathura has been named after the headquarters town which, according to oral and literary traditions, was called Madhu-puri or Madhura (the sweet or lovely one), The name ‘Mathura' is also very old and means ‘city of churns’. It is stated in the Ramayana that Shatrughna (Rama's brother) made this place his capital. Another legend has it that in ancient times there was a vast forest here where bees  and consequently honey (Sanskrit Mudhu) were found in abundance, the name Madhuban being, therefore, given to it. In time the city that grew up here became known as Madhura or Mathura. Ptolemy mentions it under the name of Modoura.  The district lies in the basin of the Yamuna, which traverses through the central part of the district from north to south, and divides the district into two physical units the eastern or transyamuna and the western or cisyamuna tract

The word Brindaban, as has been already slated, means a Tulsi grove, the word Brinda and Tulsi being synonymous. The Tulsi plant is the sacred shrub Ocymiim found at many of the temples, and which at one time grew there in greater profusion. Others, with more romantic ideas, would make the term Brinda a name of the deified Radha, who was sentenced by the demon Sankhachura to become a nymph  of Brindaban. From time immemorial this town has enjoyed the distinction of being one of the holiest shrines in India. Perhaps the earliest mention of the kingdom of Mathura is  found m the Vishnu and Bbagavat Parana and in the Hanvansa,  related that the giant Madhu lived and reigned in the forest of Madbuhan and founded the city of Madhupiin, which, upon his death, passed to his son, Lavana, in the days of Rama, the king of Ayodhya.   After Satrugna, the third in descent from Yadu annexed the kingdom.   Thousands of years ago, the ruler Ugrasena and later his tyrannical son Kamsa usurped the throne and ruled with cruelty and injustice to people that Lord Krishna demolished him.    

Bhagwan Sree Krishna was not exactly a mighty hero of the epic Mahabarat admired for his superhuman powers, but He was born in adverse circumstances and grew up amidst difficulties and challenges, yet played with shepherds, amusing all around, and at the same time gave us the greatest ideals of life.  He along with Balarama played sports and then in the course killed the tyrant King.  He repeatedly defended Mathura against the attacks of Kamsa, son-in-law of  Jarasandha,  king of Magada, and Kalayatana, king of  the Yavanas, but, to save his people from further trouble, deported the entire city in a moment to Dwaraka, the exact counterpart of  Mathura, which HE  had prepared in the midst of the distant sea.   

The four principal entrances to the city are called the Brindaban, Dig, Bharatpur, and Holi Gates. The latter is also called the Hardinge Gate, in honor of the late  Bradford Hardinge, who was magistrate and collector at the time the beautiful and elaborately carved stone arch was erected over the main street leading from the civil station into the city. The center of the portal is surmounted with a clock.

This year at Thiruvallikkeni divyadesam and in other places, we celebrated the birth of Lord Sree Krishna on 31.8.2021.  Here are some photos of beautifully decorated Sreekrishna at Thirumylai Madhava perumal temple.

திருமயிலை ஸ்ரீமாதவப்பெருமாள் திருக்கோவிலில் உள்ள  ஸ்ரீகிருஷ்ணரின் அழகு திருக்கோலம்  30.8.2021 அன்று !! 

adiyen Srinivasa dhasan
Mamandur veeravalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar                         
8^th Sept 2021. 

Some of the above excerpted  from the book ‘Braj’ – the Vaishnava Boly land by Rev JE Scott in 1906