Shrinathji

The name of a particular image of the
god Krishna, the presiding deity of the
Shrinathji temple in Nathdwara,
Rajasthan. According to tradition, the
image was originally hidden on top of
Mount Govardhan, a famous mountain
in the Braj region that is mythically
associated with Krishna’s humiliation of
the storm-god Indra. The image’s location was revealed in a dream to
Vallabhacharya, the founder of the religious community known as the Pushti
Marg. Vallabhacharya built a temple to
house the image on Mount Govardhan,
and his descendants have remained
Shrinathji’s hereditary servants since
that time. The image was taken to
Rajasthan in 1669, a move prompted by
fears that it would be destroyed by the
Moghul emperor Aurangzeb. According
641
Shrinathji
to tradition Shrinathji revealed his
wish to stay in Nathdwara by sinking
his wagon’s wheels deep into the earth,
so that it could not go further. A new
temple was erected and dedicated in
1672, and the image has remained there
ever since.
Whether or not one accepts the claim
of the divine mandate, much of the story
seems reasonable. Given the proximity
of Braj to Agra, the Moghul capital,
keepers of well-known images might
have been concerned about their safety,
and since the neighboring state of
Rajasthan was controlled by the
Moghuls’ Hindu vassals, this would have
been an obvious place to go. Even today
Nathdwara is in a remote and thinly settled region of Rajasthan, which indicates
that in earlier times it would have been a
place of refuge. The Nathdwara temple
is particularly important to the Pushti
Marg, a religious community devoted
to the god Krishna, who play the major
role in administering it. For more
information see Rajendra Jindel, Culture
Of a Sacred Town, 1976. See also
Moghul dynasty.