Chandan Yatra

April 21st was the first day of Chandan Yatra here in Vrindaban. This is a festival when the deities in all the temples are adorned with Chandan, or sandalwood paste. The reason for this festival is that this paste, when applied to the forehead or body, is very cooling (Did I mention that it's around 115º F here?) The temples decorate the deities of the temple with Chandan for 21 days.

The first night of the festival is always the best as the major temples in town cover their deities entirely with sandalwood paste. Radhacharan and I decided to go into town in the evening to visit some of the temples.

Our first stop was Radha Ramana temple. First of all, I think that I should mention that we rode our bikes on the Parikrama path instead of down the main road through town. This is a small road that goes around the entire town of Vrindaban, and is near the Yamuna river. It generally is much less crowded of a road to travel on during busy festival days, and the air is usually fresh, with a gentle breeze from the river. The road into town is generally too small in the city for two cars to pass, so it causes major traffic, congestion and pollution. Even on a bicycle I have been caught for 20 minutes trying to make my way through a massive and messy block of cars, camels, riksaws, motorbikes and cows. Yesterday, however, even the Parikrama road was busy (so I can't imagine how insane the traffic must have been on the main roads through town!!) As we cut into the town from a small alley that would lead us to the Radha Raman temple we saw hoards of people running/riding riksawa, sitting in cars etc. going from one temple to the next to see Krishna decked out in sandalwood paste on this special day.

When we finally made it to Radha Ramana's temple we were directed to enter from the back entrance by some security staff (hired for this special day only). When we entered the temple we were surprised to see a sprinkler suspended from the ceiling spraying the people in the middle of the temple room. I was of course totally paranoid that Radhacharan might fall, as there were several inches of water on the marble floor...but he made it up and down the steps without a hitch. Radha Ramana was wearing an outfit made entirely out of sandalwood paste. He was also out in front, much closer than usual, and it made for an intimate viewing experience.

After enjoying the cool water being sprayed, we and decided to continue on to the Radha Gokulananda temple, which is just down the road. Gokulananda, Radha Vinode, Radha Vijay Govinda, and the Govardhana Sila which Lord Caitanya personally gave to Raghunatha das Goswami over 500 years ago were adorned with Chandan there. The deity of Mahaprabhu, worshiped by Srila Narottam das Thakur stands to the left side.

After this we continued to the Radha Gopinatha temple, and then on to the Radha Syamasundara temple, the temple of Srila Syamananda pandit. They are usually the most beautiful in the the whole city on this day, but unfortunately they don't allow photos to be taken.

Radhacharan was a little overwhelmed physically by dealing with the massive pushing crowds (many many people come from out of town for this event, and most people who live in town are also out at this same time). He started to look a little shaky, so we decided to return home (on the parikrama road of course). We had a pleasant, quiet ride home, and then came back and drank lassis, a cooling yogurt smoothie.

There is always something interesting going on here!