Mathura temples shut down in protest of Kanchi Seer's arrest

VISHAL SHARMA

India (Mathura) 21 Oct. The devotees arriving in Lord Krishna’s birthplace Mathura were in for a surprise on Sunday as the doors to more than 2000 temples of both Mathura & Vrindavan remained closed today in protest to the arrest of the Kanchi Seer Jayendra Saraswati, the religious head of the Hindus world over, in a criminal conspiracy.

Along the banks of River Yamuna, about 56 kms from Agra and south to the national capital city of Delhi, lie the twin cities of Mathura & Vrindavan, which, being the birthplace of Lord Krishna, the religious icon of love for Hindus, are reputed to be the main pilgrimage centre for Hindus and one of the seven sacred cities in India.

The history of Mathura or Brij dates back to 600 BC and this land has been in the limelight during the Mauryan era, and under the great Emperor Ashoka, and later under Kushanas too.

According to Hindu scriptures, it is believed that Lord Krishna was born in a prison cell of his maternal uncle and the then King of Mathura, Kansa. Katra Keshav Deo is believed to be that place where he was actually born. A red stone mosque built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb stands on the same site. Later, excavations at this site revealed many interesting old statues, which are now displayed in the Government museum. Presently a beautiful temple, called Krishna Janma Bhoomi, stands at this site dedicated to Lord Krishna.

Thousands of Krishna devotees flock to Mathura every day from different parts of the country to pray in the over 5000 temples dotting the landscape, including the Krishna Janmabhoomi, Dwarikadheesh, ISCKON, Rangji & Lakshminarayan Temples. This number grows especially larger on Sundays when the devotees from nearby Haryana and Delhi arrive in large groups.

But this Sunday, while the devotees did arrive in large numbers, they were surprised to find that the doors of almost every temple of the twin cities remained closed for the devotees. Upon inquiring from the Acharya Divaker, the head priest of Krishna Janmabhoomi, he refused to comment on the reasons behind the temple closure and said that though the temple doors have been shut down, the morning prayers were still offered to Lord Krishna.

Another priest Lokendra Narayan of Laxminarayan temple said that the temples have been shut down in protest of the Kanchi Seer’s arrest by the Tamilnadu Police. He said that the Hindu religion is being threatened by the acts of a religiously biased government in Tamilnadu and today in the morning prayers, before the temple doors were shut down, Lord Krishna was asked to come down from the heavens to save the sanctity of Hinduism. The devotees coming to the temples were also asked to offer their prayers to the holy mount of “Goverdhan” in Vrindavan, to save the religion.

Monika Singh, an Air-Hostess in a private airline, who comes to Mathura from Delhi every Sunday to offer her prayers to Lord Krishna at the ISCKON temple with her mother and brother, said that she was very disappointed at the way the temples were closed by the priests without any prior intimation. She said that though she too didn’t agree to the arrest of the Shankaracharya, shutting down temples would not prove any point and would only cause discomfort to the thousands of Krishna devotees coming to Mathura to catch a glimpse of their lord.
(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)


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