Location: Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India Dates: Indian lunar month of Bhadra (August / September). August 28, 2013; August 17, 2014; September 5, 2015.
Level of Participation: 3 - Offer puja (prayer) with pilgrims
Held on the eighth day of Krishnapaksha ('dark fortnight), when the moon is waning, this massive pilgrimage begins an intense holiday season, even for Hindus standards. It's a Birthday Party for Lord Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu's blue skin.
The anniversary is celebrated throughout India, but nowhere more enthusiastically than in Mathura, Krishna's birthplace. The pilgrims who come to the northern city, 140 kilometers south of Delhi, fast all day and put in temples at night. They sing hymns in Sanskrit, ring bells, blow shells (a symbol of Vishnu) and read from the Bhagavad Gita, which is narrated by Krishna. The flickering flames during the ritual Aarthi, which lit the wicks soaked in camphor or butter (butterfat gold) is offered to the deity statues. Cribs and statues Balgopal, the boy Krishna, decorate the temples. The ceremonies, meant to revive the famous birth, conclude around midnight, at which time God would born flutist.
In southern India, residents paint a trail of tiny footprints, flour and water, which runs from the entrance to the chamber of inner meditation. This creates a sense that Krishna has made a visit.
Attractions: see the stone slab in the Kesava Deo temple where Hindus believe Krishna was born 3,500 years ago.
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