Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami
From the book “Sri Vraja-maṇḍala-parikramā”:
Surrounding this pond are pīlu trees that produce fruits in abundance. On the pretext of collecting pīlu fruits, Śrīmatī Rādhikā would come here to perform varieties of playful pastimes. Śrī Kṛṣṇa would also come here from Nandagaon and enact many pastimes with Her. Once, the unmarried daughter of Kīrtidā, Śrīmatī Rādhikā, and Her sakhīs went to Nandagaon to see Yaśodā-maiyā. Charmed by Śrīmatī Rādhikā’s beauty and qualities, Yaśodā-maiyā desired in her heart to marry Rādhikā to her son Kṛṣṇa and thus have Her as her daughter-in-law. So great was her desire that she painted Kiśorī Rādhā’s hands yellow. Rādhikā’s heart became very happy but, as She returned to Her father’s house in Varsānā, She became quite embarrassed. She washed and scrubbed Her hands in this pond, and the pond’s water turned yellow. This pond is therefore called Pīrī-pokhara or Pīlī-pokhara, “the yellow pond”. It is also called Piyāla-kuṇḍa because piyāla trees surround it.
Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
The words ‘sarovara’ as well as ‘pokhara’ both refer to a lake or large kunda and ‘piyala’ refers to a grove of fruit trees that grew near the shores of this lake. There is a famous pastime that is connected to this sacred sarovara. One day Radharani, accompanied by Her friends, went to Nandagrama where She met Krishna’s mother Yashoda. Upon seeing the exquisite beauty and cultured behavior of Radharani, within her heart Yashoda Mayi yearned that Radha should become her daughter-in-law by getting Her married to her darling son Krishna. Yashoda Mayi was so carried away with the idea, that she mixed some yellow turmeric paste and began applying it to Radharani’s hands, as is the custom when the would-be-bride visits the house of her future mother-in-law. After feeling greatly honored by the affection shown by mother Yashoda, Radha left with Her girlfriends for Varsana.
Observing the bright yellow color of Her hands, Radharani began to feel rather embarrassed and began to ponder what the people of Varsana, and especially Her family members would say if She arrived home with the yellow turmaric colored hands of a would-be-bride. Therefore, before going home, Radharani rushed to the nearby lake known as Piyala-sarovara and diligently began washing off all the yellow or pili colored tumeric from Her hands. Immediately after Radha had washed Her hands in the lake, the water in the lake turned a very bright yellow (pili). Due to this, the lake became celebrated as Pili Pokhara, meaning the ‘yellow colored lake’.
This area around this lake is also known as Pilu Khora because Radha and Krishna used to pick pilu fruits from the pilu trees at this place. The word ‘pilu’ refers to the fruit of the ‘pilu tree’ and ‘khora’ means a ‘sacred place’. In the Bhakti-ratnakara it says, “On the northern side of Banukhora is Piyala-sarovara where Radha and Krishna performed various sports. At this place the ‘divine couple’ along with Their associates became happy to see the beauty of the great jiyala trees. It was here on the pretext of picking pilu fruits that Radha and Krishna enjoyed each other’s company, hence it became known to everyone as Pilu Khora.”
