Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami
From the book “Sri Vraja-maṇḍala-parikramā”:
The present name of this village is Khāyaro, and lies three miles south of Chātā and three miles south-east of Jāvaṭa. Kṛṣṇa would come to herd His cows here. Saṅgama-kuṇḍa, where a meeting (saṅgama) between the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa took place, is situated here. Lokanātha Gosvāmī performed sādhana-bhajana on the bank of this pond in a solitary place. Occasionally, Bhūgarbha Gosvāmī would also come here and perform bhajana together with Lokanātha Gosvāmī. Nearby is a very charming kadamba grove. Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma and the sakhās performed many kinds of childhood pastimes here. Every year when the dates (khajūra) ripened, Kṛṣṇa and the sakhās would come here to herd the cows and eat ripe dates.
Once, Bakāsura, a demon sent by Kaṁsa, appeared here as a huge crane to swallow Kṛṣṇa. He opened wide his massive beak, his lower beak touching the ground, and his upper beak touching the sky, and then ran at Kṛṣṇa with great speed to swallow Him. When all the sakhās saw this fearful form, they became filled with fright and began to shout, “Khāyo re, khāyo re! – He will eat Kṛṣṇa, he will eat Kṛṣṇa!” But Kṛṣṇa remained fearless. He put His foot on the demon’s lower beak, and catching the upper beak with His hand, split it just as one might split a straw. The sakhās joyfully cried out, “Khāyo re, khāyo re! – Kṛṣṇa ate him, Kṛṣṇa ate him!” The name of this village became Khāyore because of this pastime.
This place is also called Khadeḍavana or Khadīravana, because in order to kill Bakāsura, Kṛṣṇa had to chase him. The Hindi word for “to chase” is khadeḍnā. This forest is also called Khadīravana because of the khadīra trees growing here, the astringent extract of which is used for making pān.
Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
The Adi-Varaha Purana gives the following description, “The seventh forest is famous on the earth as Khadiravana. O auspicious one, any person who goes there will go to My abode.” This is one of the twelve sacred forests of Vraja and it is said in the Adi-Varaha Purana that whoever visits the sacred forest of Khadiravana will at the time of death go immediately to Vaikuntha. The forest of Kadhiravana has an individual parikrama of around four miles (6km), but there is not much of the forest remaining today and presently a village known as Khaira is situated at the place where the vast forest of khadira and kadamba trees once stood. The village was formerly known as Khayara and it is situated on the road from Nandagrama to Mathura. Akrura passed through this village while taking Krishna and Balarama to Mathura on his chariot.
Khadiravana is one of the forests where Krishna used to take the cows for grazing and while the cows grazed on the fresh grass, Krishna and His cowherd boyfriends would play various games and also sport in the waters of the kunda. Besides khadira trees, there was a large grove of kadamba trees growing in the forest and also many date palms; when the dates ripened Krishna and His cowherd boyfriends would enjoy feasting on the delicious fruits. Situated within the ancient forest of Khadiravana is the beautiful Sangama-kunda where Krishna enjoyed pastimes with the gopis. In the Bhakti-ratnakara it is said, ”O Shrinivasa, see this place where Krishna and His friends played many games as they tended their cows. See here the most enchanting place called Sangama-kunda where Krishna and the gopis happily met together”. The word ‘sangama’ means ‘meeting place’ and when Krishna was living at Nandagrama, He would sometimes meet Radharani and the gopis here on the banks of this kunda. This celebrated kunda is also known as Madhuri-kunda, the word madhuri (madhuriman) means that this is a very sweet and charming place. To the north of the kunda was a very beautiful kadamba grove known as kadamba-khandi, where Krishna and the gopis enjoyed their rasa-lila pastimes and where one can see the rasa-sthali and the Rasa-mandala Mandira that commemorates the event.
The famous Gaudiya Vaishnava saint Lokanatha Goswami spent some time performing bhajana on the banks of the sacred Sangama-kunda and his bhajana-kutira can still be seen here. Lokanatha’s close friend and companion, Bhugarbha Goawami, also spent time at Khadiravan performing bhajana. Narottama Dasa Thakura, the only disciple of Lokanatha Goswami, had also performed bhajana at this same place. One can see the bhajana-sthalis of both Bhugarbha Goswami and Narottama Dasa next to Lokanatha Goswami’s bhajana-kutira. Nearby is a temple containing the pratibhu-murti of Radha-Vinoda. During the attack on Vrindavana by the tyrant Aurangzeb, the original Deity of Radha-Vinoda, worshiped by Lokanatha Goswami, was smuggled out and the Deity is now being worshiped in Jaipur.
While engaged in cow herding pastimes at Khadiravana, Krishna killed the demon named Bakasura who appeared there in the form of a gigantic duck. The word ‘baka’ means a type of ‘crane’ and more specifically an ‘egret’. This demon appeared in the form of a giant-sized crane and had been sent by King Kamsa to eliminate Krishna. When he attacked Krishna, the demon attempted to gobble Him up in his huge beak. Suddenly seeing the demon attacking Krishna, the cowherd boys began crying. “Khayo re! Khayo re!” meaning, “He will eat Him! He will eat Him!” For this reason the village became known as Khayara from the words ‘khayo re’. The actual spot where Bakasura was killed is a little to the west of the present village at a place called Bakathara.
