Shrinathji: The Lord of Nathdwara

For lakhs of Gujarati Vaishnav families, the year turns around Shrinathji, the child Krishna of Nathdwara. The svarup shows Krishna as a seven year old with his left arm raised, lifting Govardhan hill to shelter the people of Braj from Indra's storms.

Tradition says the deity self-manifested from Govardhan hill in Braj, and that in Samvat 1466 (1409 CE), on Shravan Sud 5, a raised arm emerging from the hillside was the first darshan. Shri Vallabhacharya, founder of the Pushtimarg, the path of grace, established the seva, and his son Shri Vitthalnathji gave the deity the name Shrinathji and shaped the beautiful tradition of shringar and bhog that continues to this day.

When Aurangzeb ordered temples destroyed in 1669, the goswamis carried Shrinathji away from Braj in a bullock cart, seeking shelter from court to court. In Mewar, Maharana Raj Singh gave his word of protection. At the village of Sihad the cart's wheels sank into the earth and would not move, and the goswamis understood that the Lord had chosen his home. The temple was established there in 1672, and the village became Nathdwara, the gateway to the Lord.

The temple is called a haveli, a mansion, because Shrinathji is served not as a distant god but as the living master of the house: woken gently, dressed, offered food and rested through the day. Darshan opens eight times a day as jhanki, each one a glimpse of a different mood.

The haveli's art has travelled the world too. The pichwai paintings hung behind the deity, full of cows, lotuses and monsoon clouds, are celebrated far beyond Rajasthan today.

Jay Shrinathji!