Celebrating Birth of Lord Sri Krishna ~ Gokulashtami 2024 – Braj Bhoomi

Celebrating Birth of Lord Sri Krishna ~ Gokulashtami  2024 – Braj Bhoomi 

श्री कृष्णं भज मानस सततं

श्रित जन परिपालं गोपालं बालम् !!  
 

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.

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.

பரம்பொருள் எம்பெருமான் ஸ்ரீகிருஷ்ணர்  அவதார மஹிமை- ஸ்ரீ வேதவியாசர் அருளிச்செய்த ஸ்ரீ மஹா  பாகவதத்தில்  சிறப்புற கூறப்பட்டுள்ளது.  பகவானாகிய ஸ்ரீமந்நாரணர்   பூமிபார நிவர்த்திக்காக வசுதேவரது இருதய கமலத்தில் பிரவேசித்ததினால் சூரிய பகவானைப் போல விளங்கிக்கொண்டிருக்கிற  அவ்வசுதேவரிடத்தினின்று சுசீலையான தேவகி தேவியானவள் பகவத் ரூபமான கர்ப்பத்தையடைந்தாள். இந்தச் சமயத்தில் சதுர்முகனும் , சங்கரனும் , இந்திராதி தேவர்களும் , ஸ்ரீ நாரதாதி சமவ்த ரிஷிகளும் ஆகாயத்தில் எழுந்தருளி , இரண்டு கைகளையும் சிரசின்மேல் குவித்துக்கொண்டு, வசுதேவர் தேவகிதேவி இவர்களுக்கு மாத்திரம் பிரசன்னமாகும்படி ஸ்ரீ ஹரியைத் துதி  செய்யத் தொடங்கினார்கள் .  கொடிய இருளை நீக்கி பூமியை விளங்கவைக்கின்ற  குளிர்ந்த கிரணங்களை வீசும் வெள்ளியச் சந்திரன் கீழ்த்திசையில் உதிப்பதுபோல் , தெளிந்த அமுதம்போலும் அழகுவாய்ந்த தேவகிதேவியினிடத்தினின்றும் பிரகாசம் பொருந்திய நீலமணியினது நிறம்போலும் திருமேனியுடைய பகவான் ஆவணி மாதத்தில் அஷ்டமி திருநாளில், ரோகிணி நக்ஷத்திரத்தில் அவதரித்தார் .

At the place where Lord Krishna was born now exists a Temple popularly known as ‘Janmasthan temple’  -  Kesava Deo Temple considered most sacred for all Hindus.  There is a huge complex comprising of a small temple, the Janmasthan, gallery, a huge temple later built by Dalmiyas – the prison cell – the exact place where Lord Krishna was born is under a doom – all heavily fortified and guarded these days.  At the Janmasthan is the most beautiful  Kehsav Dev(Krishna), the worshipped  deity of this temple. According to traditions the original deity was installed by the  great-grandson of Krishna.  

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.

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.

Mathura Janmasthan temple

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 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.

What we see today are remains of a glorious city that was plundered, savaged, brutally attacked no. of times by Islamic invaders and later looted by colonial rulers.    

Of all the sacred places in India, none enjoys a greater popularity than the capital of Braj, the holy city of Mathura. For nine months in the year festival follows upon festival in rapid succession, and the ghats and temples are daily

thronged with new troops of way-worn pilgrims. So great is the sanctity of the spot that its panegyrists do not hesitate to declare that a single day spent at Mathura  is more meritorious than a lifetime passed at Banaras. All this celebrity status is due to the fact of its being the reputed birth-place of the Supreme God Lord Krishna.  

Not only the city of Mathura, but with it the whole of the western half of the district, has a special interest of its own as the birth-place and abiding home of Vaishnava Hinduism. It is about 42 miles in length, with an average breadth of 30 miles, and is intersected throughout by the river Jamuna.  The  Braj-mandal of Hindu topography  is  the circuit of  neighbourhood of Gokul and Brinda-ban, where the divine brothers Krishna and Balaram grazed their herds.  Almost every spot is traditionally connected with some event in the life of Krishna or of his mythical mistress Radha.   Thus, two prominent peaks in the Bharat-pur range are crowned with the villages of Kand-ganw and Barsana : of which the former is venerated. 

In the year 1803, when its area was first included in British territory, part of it was administered from Agra and part from Sa’dabad. This arrangement continued till 1832, when the city of Mathura was recognized as the most fitting centre of local government  and in 1868 the revenue offices at Aring were transferred to Mathura, but the general boundaries remained unchanged. The district, however, as thus constituted, was of a most inconvenient shape. Its outline was that of a carpenter’s square, of which the two parallelograms were nearly equal in extent ; the upper one lying due north and south, while the other at right angles to it stretched due eastward below. The capital, situated at the interior angle of junction, was more accessible from the contiguous district of Aligarh and the independent State of Bharatpur than from the greater part of its own territory.   

Apart from inscriptions and other fragmentary archaeological vestiges of its ancient glory, the first authentic contemporary record of Mathura that we find in existing literature is dated the year 1017 A.D., when it was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in his ninth invasion of India. The original source of information respecting Mahmud’s campaigns is the Tarikh Yamini of Al Utbi, who was himself secretary to the Sultan, though he did not accompany him in his expeditions. He mentions by name neither Mathura nor Maha-ban, but only describes certain localities, which have been so identified by Firishta and later historians. The place supposed to be Maha-ban he calls the Fort of

Kulchand, was not without good reason, confident in his strength, for no one had fought against him and not been defeated. He had vast territories, enormous wealth, a numerous and brave army, huge elephants, and strong forts that no enemy had been able to reduce. When he saw that the Sultan advanced against him, he drew up his army and elephants in nearby forest,  ready for action. But finding every attempt to repulse the invaders fail, the beleaguered infidels at last quitted the fort and tried to cross the broad river which flowed in its rear. When some 50,000 men had been killed or drowned, Kulchand took a dagger, with which he first slew his wife and then drove it into his own body. The Sultan obtained by this victory 185 fine elephants besides other booty.” 

Mathura as described was the  town wall constructed of solid stone, and had opening on to the river two gates, raised on high and massive basements to protect them from the floods. On the two sides of the city were thousands of houses with idol temples attached, all of masonry and strengthened with bars of iron ; and opposite them were other buildings supported on stout wooden pillars. In the middle of the city was a temple, larger and finer than the rest, to which neither painting nor description could do justice. The Sultan thus wrote respecting it:— If any one wished to construct a building equal to it, he would not be able to do so without expending a hundred million dinars, and the work would occupy two hundred years, even though the most able and experienced workmen were employed. Orders were given that all the temples should be burnt with naphtha and fire and levelled with the ground.” The city was given up to plunder for twenty days. Among the spoil are said to have been five great idols of pure gold with eyes of rubies and adornments of other precious stones, together with a vast number of smaller silver images, which, when broken up, formed a load for more than a hundred camels. The total value of the spoil has been estimated at three millions of rupees ; while the number of Hindus carried away into captivity exceeded 5,000. 

Nizam-ud“din, Firishta, and the other late Muhammadan historians take for granted that Mathura was at that time an exclusively Brahmanical city.   Many of the temples, after being gutted of all their valuable contents, were left standing, probably because they were too massive to admit of easy destruction. Some writers allege that the conqueror spared them on account of their exceeding beauty, founding this opinion on the eulogistio expressions employed by Mahmud in his letter to the Governor of Ghazni quoted above. It is also stated that, on his return home, he introduced the Indian style of architecture at his own capital, whiere he erected a  mosque, upon which he bestowed the name of ‘ the Celestial Bride.’ But, however much he may have admired the magnificence of Mathura, it is clear that he was influenced by other motives than admiration in sparing the fabric of the temples ; for the gold and silver images, which he did not hesitate to demolish, must have been of still more excellent workmanship. 

During the period of Muhammadan invasive rule, the history of Mathura reached nadir, nor can this be wondered at, since whenever the unfortunate city did attract the Emperor’s notice, it became at once a mark for pillage and desecration,  and the more religious the sovereign, the more thorough the persecution.  Do read the  following passage from the Tarikh-i-Daudi of Abdullah (a writer in the reign of Jahangir), aaJio is speaking of Sultan Sikandar Lodi (1488—1516 A.D.), one of the most able and accomplished of all the occupants of the Delhi throne : He was so zealous a Musahlman that he utterly destroyed many places of worship of the infidels, and left not a single vestige remaining of them. He entirely ruined the shrines of Mathura, that mine of heathenism, and turned their principal temples into sardes and colleges. Their stone images were given to the butchers to serve them as meat-weights, and all the Hindus in Mathura were strictly prohibited from shaving their heads and beards and performing their ablutions. He thus put an end to all the idolatrous rites of the infidels there ; and no Hindu, if he wished to have his head or beard shaved, could get a barber to do it.” 

In confirmation of the truth of this narrative, it may be observed that when the Muhammadan Governor Abd-un-Nabi, in 1661, built his mosque as a first step towards the construction of the city he founded, it was   unquestionably an old temple site, had to be purchased from the butchers.  During the reign   of Shahjahan, it is recorded that Murshid Ali Khan, in the year 1636, made a commander of 2,000 horse, and appointed by the Emperor Governor of Mathura and Maha-ban, with express instructions to bo zealous in stamping out all rebellion and idolatry. The climax of wanton destruction was, however, attained by Aurangzeb, the Oliver Cromwell of India, who, not content with demolishing the most sacred of its shrines, thought also to destroy even the ancient name of the city by substituting for it Islampur or Islamabad. 

It was in 1803 that Mathura passed under British rule and became a milltary station on the line of frontier, which 'was then definitely extended to the Jamuna. This was at the termination of the successful war with Daulat Rao Sindhia ; when the independent French State, that had been established by Perron, and was beginning to assume formidable dimensions, had been extinguished by the fall of Aligarh ; while the protectorate of the nominal sovereign of Delhi, transferred by the submission of the capital, invested the administration of the Company with the prestige of Imperial sanction. At the same time a treaty was concluded with Ranjit Sinh, who with 5,000 horse had joined General Lake at Agra and thereby contributed to Sindhia’s defeat. In return for this service he received a part of the districts of Kishangarh, Kathawar, Rewari, Gokul and Sahar. In September of the following year Mathura was held for a few days by the troops of Holkar Jasavant Rao ; but on the arrival of reinforcements from Agra, was re-occupied by the British finally and permanently. Meanwhile, Holkar had advanced upon Delhi, but the defence was so gallantly conducted by Ochterlony that the assault was a signal failure. His army broke up into two divisions, one of which was pursued to the neighbourhood of Farrukhabad, and there totally dispersed by General Lake ; while the other was overtaken by General Fraser between Dig and Gobardhan and defeated with great slaughter. In this latter engagement the brilliant victory was purchased by the death of the officer in command, who was brought into Mathura fatally wounded .. .. …

Mahmud of Ghazni ransacked the city in 1017, when the historian records: "The town was constructed of hard stone, had opening on the river two gates, raised on high, and massive basements to protect them from the floods.   So complete had been the destruction of the city by the fanatical Mohammedans that save a few relics nothing earlier than the sixteenth century can be found. More than five hundred years of plunder and rapine had almost completely wiped out all traces of the magnificent old rich  Hindu city, so that the modern city does not even occupy its ancient site. In 1803, upon the fall of Aligarh, then held by the French, Mathura came under British rule and was made a military station on the British frontier, whose western boundary was the Jamuna River. From this time onward, interrupted only by a number of famines and the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, the city continued to grow in prosperity.  In 1832 Mathura was made the capital of a new district.

Kannan Thiru Aalari divyadesam

 

Kannan at Dusi Mamandur

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.    

வேதங்களும் இதிஹாச புராணமான ஸ்ரீமத் மகாபாரதமும்  புகழும் முழு முதல் எம்பெருமான் பகவான் ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணனே !   மஹாரிஷிகள் அறிய முனையும் நித்திய உண்மை அவனே;  தேவர்களின் ஞானமாக இருப்பவனும், வேதங்களை நன்கறிந்தோரால் தூய அறிவாக அறியப்படுபவனும் அவனே.  புலன் நுகர் பொருட்களைப் படைப்பவனும், ஹிரண்யகர்ப்பனாக இருந்து பூதங்களையும் படைப்பவனும் அவனே. புத்தியும், மனமும், க்ஷேத்ரக்ஞனும், மகிமையின் கோட்பாடும், புருஷனும், பரமாத்மாவும் அவனே. அனைத்துக்கும் சாட்சியான காலமாகவும், எதனிலும் சார்பற்றவனாகவும் இருப்பவன் அவனே. நம் செயல்பாடுகளுக்குக் காரணனாகவும், நாம் செய்ய வேண்டியதையும், செய்யக்கூடாததையும் வகுப்பவனாகவும் இருப்பவன் அவனே.  இந்த புனித நன்னாளில், கண்ணன் பிறப்பை இல்லங்கள்தோறும் சிறப்புற கொண்டாடி, அவன் தாளிணைகளை வணங்கி, அவனடி சேர்ந்து இன்புறுவோமாக !!

This year at Thiruvallikkeni divyadesam and in other places, we celebrate the birth of Lord Sree Krishna today on Tuesday 27^th Aug 2024.   

adiyen Srinivasa dhasan

Mamandur veeravalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar                         

27.08.2024. 

Some of the above excerpted  from the book ‘Braj’ – the Vaishnava Boly land by Rev JE Scott in 1906  & from - Mathura a District Memoir by FS Growse, BCS, MA Oxon, CIE, Magistrate and Collector of Bulandshahr; Fellow of the Calcutta University, published in 1883  

Sri Krishna bhagwan as Sri Parthasarathi @ Thiruvallikkeni divyadesam