Shrinathji Temple, Nathdwara

Shrinathji depicts Krishna as a seven-year-old child in the act of lifting Govardhan Hill to shelter the people of Braj from Indra’s storm, and devotional tradition holds that the image itself self-manifested from the hill near Mathura rather than being carved by human hands. For generations it was worshipped in the Braj region around Mathura and Vrindavan, within the Pushtimarg (“path of grace”) tradition founded by the theologian Vallabhacharya.

In 1672, as Aurangzeb’s campaign against temples in the Braj region intensified, the icon was moved out of Mathura for its own safety, spending time near Agra before continuing south by chariot in search of a secure home. According to temple tradition, the chariot’s wheels sank into the ground at the village of Sihad in Mewar and would go no further — read as a sign that the deity had chosen to stop there. Maharana Raj Singh of Mewar took the image under his protection, and the temple built for it at what became Nathdwara (“gate of the lord”) took shape over the following years, deliberately constructed as a haveli, or grand mansion, with storerooms and chambers mirroring the household of a royal family rather than a conventional temple layout. Vallabhacharya’s son, Vitthalnathji, is credited with institutionalizing worship here, and Nathdwara has remained the principal seat of the Pushtimarg sect ever since.