Mathura Vrindavan has a great contribution when it comes to Indian Culture, rich heritage, local tra-ditions and even local handy arts and crafts. The story of Mathura Vrindavan revolves around Lord Krishna and his tales. In other words, Mathura Vrindavan is the most important place of pilgrimage for devotees of Lord Krishna. Krishna was born in Mathura and spent his childhood in Vrindavan. There are more than 5,000 temples only in Vrindavan, yes you heard the right figure.
Some of the famous temples in Mathura and Vrindavan are Dwarkadish Temple, Iskon Temple Mathura, Barsana Temple, Mathura Krishna Janmabhoomi temple, Govind Dev Temple, Banke Bihari Temple and the Mathura Shri Krishna temple. Some other prominent places in Mathura are Gokul, Barsana, and Govardhan. Gokul is the hideout where Lord Krishna was secretly brought up away from the eyes of his maternal uncle Kansa. Krishna’s love of life, Radha belonged to Barsana. While at Govardhan, Lord Krishna raised a mountain on his only little finger to protect the people from the wrath of rain by God Indra.

The Colourful Culture of Vrindavan:
Your tour to Mathura and Vrindavan will serve your great experiences of local culture and tradi-tions. Some of the great things to see in Mathura and Vrindavan are:

Sanjhi is an art form practiced with bright and colourful flowers. It is basically the art of hand cut-ting or stencil cutting design on paper. The picture shows above.

Raaslila is a dance festival of Krishna’s childhood. According to the writings from Bhagwat Pura-na, Krishna and Gopis had danced the Raas on the banks of the Yamuna at Vrindavan. When the Gopis felt conceited about the dance, Krishna disappeared from their midst. The charming child-hood pranks of Shri Krishna is the main theme of Raaslila.

Charkula in Mathura is a dramatic traditional dance of Braj, performed during the time of Holi with earthen lamps placed on women head along with the men singing Rasiya folk numbers. The women dancer balances the 40-50 kg charkula on her head, performing graceful movements. It is generally performed on the Dooj of Holi.

Rasiya is traditional folk songs that are found in the Braj area. The song reflects the meaningful love between divine couple Radha and Krishna. The rasiya act is accompanied by the rhythm of huge drums, known as a bomb in the local language.

Lath Mar in Mathura is the local celebration of Hindu festival Holi. On the first day, goes from Nandgaon come to Barsana, where Radha belonged and play Holi with the Gopis of Barsana.

Janmashtami is the celebrated as the birthday of Lord Krishna in all the temples of Mathur and Vrindavan. The main celebrations are held at Mathura, being the birthplace. It’s a great colourful festival, with colourful raaslilas, sing and dance dramas depicting various phases of Krishna’s life.

Govardhan Puja in Mathura is also called as Annakut, symbolising a heap of grain. It is cele-brated on the occurrence of the day Krishna defeated Indra. It is actually the fourth day of Diwali and is celebrated on the first lunar day of Shukla Paksha in accordance with the Hindu calendar Month of Kartika. Huge quantities of food are prepared on this auspicious day in the temples of Vrindavan and are distributed happily among the general public.

Gurus are believed as important people and necessary part of lives. On this auspicious day of Guru Purnima, the disciples offer Puja and pay respect to their Gurus. It falls on the day of full moon in the month of Ashadh (June-July) of the Shaka Samvat as per the Hindu calendar. The Guru Purnima Puja attract too much crowd as shown below.

It is celebrated once in a year, is a grand car festival. This festival is celebrated till 10 days. The Rath Yatra symbolises The Sun God, Suryanarayana. It is believed that the Lord Shri Jagannath, Devi Subhadra, and Lord Thakur Shri Balaram visit their devotees during the Rath Yatra and bless their devotees.