Banke Bihari Temple

Vrindavan’s single most-visited temple, Banke Bihari enshrines a form of Krishna originally worshipped by the 16th-century saint-musician Swami Haridas at Nidhivan under the name Kunj Bihari; the deity was relocated to its present site in the 19th century (the temple itself dates to around 1862-64) following disputes among Haridas’s followers. The temple is distinctive for its darshan practice: rather than remaining continuously visible as in most temples, the curtain before the deity is drawn shut every few minutes, out of a devotional belief that uninterrupted viewing could cause the restless child-form deity to leave; no early-morning bells or aarti are performed for the same reason, except on Janmashtami.