Mayapur Dhaam - Dol Purnima

"Purnima" meaning the Full Moon, invokes a romantic essesnce even to the most elusive person, and spending such a wonderful night or rather day of "Dol Purnima" meaning the day when the festival of colours is played is a more sweet experience. 

"Dol Purnima" as said in Bengali is the festival of colours which is played all over India as Holi in the month of March. This festival is dedicated to Lord Krishna who used to spend this festival playing with colours with his beloved "gopikas" and his friends.
"Mayapur Dham" situated in Navadwip district near Krishnanagar city of West Bengal is dedicated to Lord Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is believed to be incarnation of Lord Sri Krishna according to many scriptures and was also sometimes referred to as Guara (Sanskrit for 'golden'), due to his fair complexion and Nimai due to his being born underneath a Neem tree (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaitanya_Mahaprabhu)  . Mayapur Dham is the headquarter of ISKON and believed to be the birth place of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.  

Our visit to Mayapur was a sudden plan to go out of Kolkata for a break. Just a weekend trip.
We started our trip by 8:00 AM in the morning and by 10:00 AM we were crossing Krishnanagar. We picked up a friend who is a local person at Krishnanagar and our guide for the trip, and moved towards the Mayapur Dham / ISKON temple. 

Though we had booked a car to travel from Kokata to Mayapur, there are local trains which leave from Howrah station to Mayapur (HWH Arambagh local). The next nearest station is Krishnanagar Junction which is connected well with Sealdah or Kolkata stations. 

It was the month of March and on Dol purnima people generally expect the coolness of the withering winters but the sun was in no mood to let the winters stay and was beating us with its rays from then on. The parking areas were shifted as we came to know after reaching there and we were asked to park our vehicle quite far from the main gate. This seemed to be the way from the back gate area. We walked nearly a kilometer and entered the premises of the Mayapur Dham temple. 

Though the sun was trying to blind us with its rays, the beauty inside could not pass by. The gardens filled with different color of flowers and plants was in tune with the festival of the season. As we went further, we saw a stage where some "pravachan" was going on and on one side there were sculptures indicating various fables from mythology and culture.

The Five Senses

Goddess control mortal destiny

The various stages of Life

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

As we walked towards the main temple, there were lots of people standing in a queue. We went towards the booth where you can keep your shoes. Mobiles and Cameras are not allowed inside the temple and should be deposited in the counter. After keeping our shoes and mobiles in the counter we moved towards the queue - nearly jumping all the time due to the heated path. 













There were two queues. One - where people would go to eat the "maha bhog"which was the longer one and which go via the "gau shala" (Though we couldn't see where it exactly was leading to) and the Second - which enters directly inside the temple premises.

We opted for the second one. This queue was anyhow smaller in length. Here again there are two queues, one for the ladies and one for gents. Though this was only a 15-20 minutes wait to enter the mail temple, and also the pathway was shaded, our roaming in the heat was making it painful to stand there. At the end of the queue your belongings will be checked for any mobiles, cameras etc and then .... well...... the wait and heat was after all worth the patience. 

Inside, right in front of you , you are greeted by the Panchtatva God's in this cool and calm environment of a huge Hall. The center of the hall is reserved for the devotees who want to sit and pray. The sides were open for the people to walk and see around. 

Panchatattva - website "Photbucket.com"

The aura of the place will automatically calm your nerves and the chanting of  " Hare Rama Hare Krishna" will completely take over your mind and senses. The idols were adorned with beautiful flowers is depicting the "Dol Purnima" or the Festival of Colours. In front of the large idols are the small idols of the Panchtatva. 
Walking through the hall, you will be taken to another hall. In between the two halls there is the idol of Sri NarsimhaDev. 

Sri Narsimhadev - website Photobucket.com

The next hall is dedicated to Lord Krishna and his 8 Gopikas. On a stage are Lord Krishna with Radha beside him and his favorite play mates Srimati Tungavidya Devi, Srimati Chitra Devi, Srimati Champaklata Devi, Srimati Lalita Devi, Sri Sri Radha-Madhava, Srimati Visakha Devi, Srimati Indulekha Devi, Srimati Rangadevi, Srimati Sudevi. . Each and every corner of the stage was adorned with colorful flowers. 

Its very sad that they do not allow to take a camera inside, because the beauty of the whole place cannot be described only in words. Even the dresses of the idols adorned with flower motif for that day. 
One has to see it for themselves to feel the awesome beauty.  The pictures in my blog are of the same day we visited there 

Radha Krishna and his Sakhis - website Photobucket.com

It was 12:00 noon by the time we came out of the temple premises and moved towards the Museum complex dedicated to the life and works 
of Sri Prabhupada. You have to go winding up the stairs to reach the top of the building to the museum. The rule of No camera and No mobiles apply there too. 
You can see the River  Hoogly flowing beside the premises from the top of the museum. 

Due to the heat, the sun and hunger we left the temple premises in the afternoon itself,
though we did feel that evening inside the temple premises would be far more calming than the afternoon. 

We had booked a room at Hotel Haveli, situated on the highway in between Krishnagar and Mayapur,
in midst of farming land. The Hotel is a 3star hotel and I would recommend it for staying a night or two if want to roam around Krishnagar.
 The rooms are clean and comfortable. The food is Ok.  Don't expect a 5 star cuisine. Service is good.

There is a nice small garden at the backyard which would be quite a comfortable place to be in the winters. 

There is a proper parking place in front of the hotel for about 6-7 cars and some bikes. 

They have arrangement for accomodating the driver as well for Rs 250 per night.

After freshening up and having our lunch we went out again - towards the city. Since it was a holiday due to "Holi" the city was silent and slumbering in the mid afternoon. 

We went to see the Krishnanagar Rajbari. The ancient gate of the Rajbari is now in shambles and the main gate was closed for tourists at that point of time. We tried calling the attendants and guards inside the gates but they gave a deaf ear to us without any stir of reaction even after seeing that we were there and wanted to ask something. Asking around to the few people who were around we came to know that the gates are opened during Baro Dol, which falls 12 days after "Dol" i.e Holi and during the Jhulan Mela which is celebrated ub July - August.

The ancient gate of the Rajbari

The Main gate of the Rajbari

Driving within the city, we reached putul patti. Putul Patti is famous for the dolls, idols, animals and many types of sculptures made of clay which look as real as alive. 

We bought a few articles, dolls and fruits. {Forgot to click the pictures in the shop there :(   } 

Going around the city, we now moved on towards the Cathedral. It was by evening that we reached there. We didn't go inside but clicked a few pics from the outside only. 

 

The blue evening sky with the sun in the west of the Catherdral gave the pictures a beautiful hue { Credit goes to the photographer also .. Thats me ;) }

Ending our day back the hotel with a last pic of the Full Moon shining on the fields surrounding the Hotel. 

So.. that was another journey far away from the maddening crowd and craziness of the daily life. I hope to go to Mayapur again ... in the winters for sure .. not to get burnt again :) and the roam the premises and see more of the place... next time.