Barsana and Nandgaon

Barsana and Nandgaon are twin villages in the Middle Doab region of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Barsana is considered as the birthplace of Radha, one of the consorts of Krishna. Nandgaon is said to be the residence of Krishna's foster father, Nanda.

Understand

Orientation

The Nandagram temple is on top of the main hill (which is called Nandisvara hill) here. The village that is on and surrounding the hill is called Nandgaon. Pavana Sarovara is north of the hill. Further north is Moti Kunda.

Directly south of the hill is the main village area. The Narasimhadeva temple and Yasoda's yogurt pot are in this area. Further south, in the outskirts of the village, is Yasoda Kunda and Nanda Kunda. To the east of the Nandisvara hill, just across the road next to the hill, is Lalita Kunda. A little south of Lalita Kunda is Uddhava Kyari. East of Nandagram, about 1½ km into the fields, is Ter Kadamba, which is a fairly difficult place to get to. Charan Pahari, where the footprints of Krishna are enshrined, is west and a little south of Nandisvara hill.

About a kilometre west of Nandagram is Vrinda Kunda, which is located in a secluded place.

A little beyond is the Pan Sarovar, a large lake with masonry ghats along its sides. Legend has it, that this was the place where Shri Krishna used to take his cows for water.

Get in

The easiest way to get here from Vrindavan is to take a taxi, which takes about an hour. To get here by public transportation from Vrindavan you first take a public bus to the town of Kosi (40 km/24 mi) and from there you take a tempo to Nandgaon, which is 8 km away. The Braja Darsana bus comes here after stopping in Varsana. This bus departs at 8AM from the Vrindavan bus stand and also stops near the front of the ISKCON temple.

See

• 1 Nandagram Temple (top of the main hill, called Nandisvara Hill). The spacious temple of Nanda, built by the Hat ruler Roop Singh. The other temples here are dedicated to Narasingha, Gopinath, Nritya Gopal, Girdhari, Nand Nandan, and Yashoda Nandan, which is halfway up the hill. There are two black marble Deities of Krishna and Balarama in this temple. They are both in three-fold bending forms, holding flutes. On Their left and right are two tall deities of Yashoda and Nanda Maharaja. Next to the deity of Mother Yashoda is a deity of Srimati Radharani, a small deity of Rohini (the mother of Lord Balarama) and Revati, Balarama's wife. Next to Nanda Maharaja are two of Krishna's friends, Sudama (maybe Sridama) and Madhumangala. The Deities in this temple were originally installed by Vajranabha. It is believed that the Deities in this temple were found by Sanatana Gosvami in a cave on the hill. (updated Dec 2023)
• 2 Radha Rani Temple. The temple is dedicated to Radha, Krishna's consort. It is stretched on the top of Bhanugarh hills, which is about 250 m (820 ft) in height. It attracts huge crowd of devotees and tourists visiting temple from around the world for its most popular festivals: Radhashtami and Lathmar Holi. (updated Dec 2023)

Do

On Rangili Holi, on the 10th day of the bright half of Phalguna, the day after Holi is celebrated in Varsana, Holi is celebrated here. It is an exciting, popular festival. Many tourists also come here to see the lath mar holi