Govardhan Parvat, also called as Giriraj Ji, is about 17 kilometres from the city of Mathura. It is well connected by road and there are several parkings for cars near the Parikrama. The Govardhan Parikrama is 21 kilometres long. Except for battery rickshaws, no vehicles are allowed on the Parikrama Path. The rickshaws, and sometimes stretchers are allowed for those who cannot complete the Parikrama on foot or are very sick. Some people perform the Parikrama on foot, some wearing just socks, changing them multiple times during the Parikrama as they wear out, and some do it barefoot. Some sadhus do the Parikrama while doing Dandvat all the way. One sadhu does 108 Dandvats at a single place before moving on and he has reached the halfway point of the Parikrama in 7 years. I will post more about him later.
The Govardhan Parvat is regarded as a form of Krishna, and is considered sacred. It is surrounded on all sides by a fence and us mere mortals do not set foot upon it. However, cows and monkeys wander on it freely. Throughout the Parikrama, you will meet people feeding fruits to monkeys and fodder to the cows. Both fruits and fodder are available in the Parikrama Path. There are also vendors selling juices and food, as it is a long Parikrama and people stop for refreshments along the way.
There is a magic about the Parikrama Path that can only by experienced and not expressed in words. The Parikrama goes on all day and night, throughout the year. Some devotees perform multiple Parikramas nonstop, stopping for rest and sleep along the way, and going on their way again for weeks. I repeat, I cannot express in words what one feels while on the Parikrama Path.
The Govardhan Parikrama begins with darshan at the Daan Ghati temple, and has several stops along the way, one of them being a compulsory stop, that is the Puchri Ka Lautha Temple. There are 5 temples to visit during the Parikrama – Daan Ghati – Puchri Ka Lautha – Jatipura – Radha Kund –Mansi Ganga – Daan Ghati. The Daan Ghati temple is visited at both the beginning as well as the end of the Parikrama. I will be writing about these temples in the coming posts.
