Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
This village is known by different names such as Raya, Ral, Rai, Rar and also Raola, and all of them are different forms of the word ‘Raya’ which means ‘queen’ and refers to Radharani, who on Brahma’s order was anointed as the ‘Raya’ or ‘Queen of Vrindavana’. In the Padma Purana, Raola (Raya) is mentioned to be one of the upavanas or sub-forests of Vrindavana, and one of the places where Radharani performed many of Her childhood pastimes. After leaving Gokula, Nanda Maharaja made his camp at Shakatikara while Vrishabhanu (Radha’s father) camped at Vasati. It is said that while Nanda’s camp stretched westward from Shakatikara (Chhatikara) up to Raya, the camp of Vrishabhanu stretched eastward from Vasati towards Raya, with both camps more or less converging at Raya. It has been said that during this period some fraternal members of Radha’s family were staying at Raya and therefore Radharani spent part of Her ‘pauganda-lila’ or Her ‘girlhood pastimes’ in this village. There are two kundas located in the village known as Balarama-kunda to the west of the village and in the north is Rabari-kunda.
