Sacred places
Explore Vrindavan
Walk the land where Krishna grew up, place by place, the way pilgrims do.
An illustrated map, not to scale. Scroll to walk, or tap a number.
Start of the walk
Welcome to Vraja
Vraja is the land where Krishna grew up, full of forests, cows and villages by the Yamuna River. Pilgrims walk from place to place here, and so can you!
Scroll to walk
Tell me more
In Vrindavan, nobody treats Krishna as God. He is a mischievous son, a best friend, a cowherd boy with a flute, and love like this pleases Him more than anything. Devotees see Vrindavan on earth as a window into His eternal home, Goloka Vrindavan, and walk its parikrama, the path that visits each place of His pastimes.
Stop 1 of 9 · Where Krishna appeared
Mathura
Krishna appeared at midnight in King Kamsa’s prison, and His father carried Him across the Yamuna to safety.
What we learn Nothing can stop Krishna from coming to His devotees, not even locked doors and chains.
Tell me more
Krishna appeared at midnight in King Kamsa’s prison in Mathura, as the eighth son of Vasudeva and Devaki. That same night His father carried Him across the Yamuna, to safety in Gokula.
Years later Krishna came back to Mathura, broke Kamsa’s great bow, and set His parents free.
Today: The Krishna Janmabhumi temple marks the place of His birth.
Stop 2 of 9 · Krishna’s first home
Gokula
In this cowherd village Mother Yashoda raised Krishna, who crawled after the calves and stole the butter.
What we learn Krishna loves to be loved as a child even more than to be worshipped as God.
Tell me more
Across the river, in the cowherd village of Gokula, Nanda Maharaja and Mother Yashoda raised Krishna as their own son. Here He crawled after the calves, stole butter, and let Himself be tied up by His mother’s love.
When more and more demons came to Gokula, the cowherds packed up their carts and moved the whole village to the forests of Vrindavan.
Today: Pilgrims still visit the home of Nanda Maharaja here.
Stop 3 of 9 · The universe in His mouth
Brahmanda Ghat
When Mother Yashoda looked in little Krishna’s mouth, she saw the whole universe inside.
“Open your mouth,” says Mother Yashoda. “Have you been eating mud?”
What we learn Even as a naughty child, Krishna is the Lord of everything, and still Yashoda simply loved Him as her son.
Tell me more
On this riverbank near Gokula, Krishna’s friends told Mother Yashoda that He had been eating mud. When she looked inside His mouth, she saw the whole universe: the stars and planets, the oceans and mountains, even Vrindavan and herself.
Brahmanda means “the universe”.
Stop 4 of 9 · The river Krishna loved
The Yamuna
At Kaliya Ghat, Krishna danced on the serpent Kaliya’s hoods until the river was pure again.
Kaliya has poisoned the Yamuna. Krishna leaps onto his hoods. Tap to dance with Him.
What we learn Krishna’s dance humbled even a poisonous serpent, and made the river pure.
Tell me more
The Yamuna wraps around Vrindavan on three sides. At Kaliya Ghat, Krishna jumped from a kadamba tree into the poisoned water and danced on the hoods of the serpent Kaliya, until the river was pure again.
Devotees honour the Yamuna as a great devotee of Krishna herself.
Today: Every evening, pilgrims offer lamps to the river at its ghats.
Stop 5 of 9 · Krishna the cowherd
The pastures
Every morning Krishna took the cows out to graze, and every evening His flute called them home.
Drag the grass to a cow, or tap her name:
What we learn Krishna, Gopala, knows every cow by name: caring for others is part of loving Him.
Tell me more
Every morning Krishna and Balarama took the cows out to the meadows and forests of Vraja, and every evening Krishna played His flute to call them home. He knew every cow by name.
One of His names, Gopala, means “the protector of the cows”.
Stop 6 of 9 · The hill Krishna lifted
Govardhan Hill
Seven-year-old Krishna held up Govardhan Hill for seven days, to shelter everyone from Indra’s storm.
What we learn Everyone who takes shelter of Krishna is protected.
Tell me more
When Indra sent a terrible storm, seven-year-old Krishna lifted Govardhan Hill on the little finger of His left hand, and held it up for seven days to shelter everyone in Vraja.
Devotees worship Govardhan as non-different from Krishna Himself.
Today: Pilgrims walk the path around the hill, about 21 kilometres, many of them barefoot.
Stop 7 of 9 · The lake of flowers
Kusum Sarovar
The gopis picked flowers for Krishna in the gardens around this lake.
0 of 8 flowers on the string.
What we learn Even picking a flower becomes devotion when it’s for Krishna.
Tell me more
Kusum means flower. The gopis came to the gardens around this lake to pick flowers for Krishna, and He would often meet them here.
Today: Graceful sandstone pavilions from the 1700s line the steps down to the water.
Stop 8 of 9 · The most sacred lakes
Radha Kunda
Radha Kunda and Shyama Kunda: the two lakes that Radha and Krishna love most.
What we learn Devotees call Radha Kunda the holiest place of all, because Radharani’s love is the highest.
Tell me more
Beside Govardhan lie two small lakes: Shyama Kunda, made by Krishna, and Radha Kunda, made by Srimati Radharani and her friends. Devotees consider Radha Kunda the most sacred place in all of Vraja.
For centuries the lakes were lost. In about 1515, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu found them again, as two small pools in a rice field.
Today: Pilgrims bathe in the lakes and chant around their banks.
Stop 9 of 9 · Krishna’s family home
Nandagram
Krishna’s boyhood home on the hill, facing Barsana across the fields.
It’s dusk, the hour of godhuli, “cow dust”. Krishna’s flute calls the cows home. Ring the bell!
What we learn Krishna’s home is wherever His devotees love Him.
Tell me more
Nanda Maharaja later settled the cowherd community on this hill, and Krishna spent His boyhood here. Nandagram and Barsana face each other across the fields, just a few kilometres apart.
Today: The Nanda Bhavan temple on the hilltop shows Krishna and Balarama with their parents.
End of the walk
Why devotees love Vrindavan
Everywhere else, Krishna is worshipped as the Lord of the universe. Here He is simply loved, as a son and a friend.
Tell me more
Five hundred years ago, many of these places were lost under fields and forest, until Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came in about 1515 and found them again. Srila Prabhupada later lived here, at the Radha-Damodara temple, before he sailed to America in 1965 to share Krishna with the world.
More places
- Akrura Ghat: Bathing here, Akrura saw Krishna and Balarama under the water, though they were sitting in his chariot.
- Radha-Damodara: Jiva Goswami’s temple, where Srila Prabhupada later lived and translated the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
- Vrindavan: “The forest of Tulasi”, where Krishna and Balarama herded the calves and played with their friends.
- Kesi Ghat: Krishna calmly defeated Kesi, a demon disguised as a wild horse, and then bathed here.
- Barsana: On its hilltop is the home of Srimati Radharani, Krishna’s dearest devotee.
- Prem Sarovar: The lake of love, said to be filled with the tears Radha and Krishna shed for each other.