Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
After visiting Raval and bathing at Vishrama Ghata, Raghava Pandita, Shrinivasa Acharya and Narottama Dasa arrived at Ambikavana (Ambika-kanana). The Bhakti-ratnakara says, “After bathing in Vishama-tirtha, they joyfully came to Ambika-kanana on the bank of the Krishna-ganga. Seeing Shri Ambikadeva and Gokarnakhya-Shiva, Shrinivasa and Narottama became filled with ecstasy. “It was here that Nanda and other cowherd men came nicely dressed on pilgrimage to have darshana of the Deities. Nanda and the other cowherds offered various kinds of worship to Gokarnakhya Mahadeva and Ambika.” Raghava Pandita then informed Shrinivasa and Narottama that it was here at Ambika-kanana where Nanda Maharaja was swallowed by a huge python. Lord Chaitanya also visited these same holy places while in the company of the sanodiya-brahmana named Krishna Dasa, during His parikrama around the holy city of Mathura.
The Shrimad-Bhagavatam says that one day, Nanda Maharaja and the cowherd men decided to witness the annual Shiva-ratri festival being held at Ambikavana. Although there is a famous shrine of Ambika Devi in the state of Gujarat, the original Adi-Ambika Devi Mandira and Ambikavana are here in Vraja. Historical records show that this Ambikavana, or Ambika-kanana as it is also known, is located on the Mathura-Vrindavana road at a place called the Sarasvati Sangama, where two small rivers known as the Saraswati and the Krishna-ganga, join each other and then flow into the Yamuna River. With regard to the Saraswati Sangama, in the Uddhava Sandesh (12/13) Lord Krishna told his friend Uddhava about His arrival in Mathura from Nandagrama on Akrura’s chariot, “Very close to Gokarna Kshetra is the Saraswati Sangam which fulfils the desires of all living entities. The Saraswati and the Yamuna Rivers meet there. When I first arrived in Mathura it was at Saraswati Sangam that the beautiful women of Mathura welcomed Me with their beautiful side-long glances.”
In the Bhakti ratnakara Raghava Pandita Goswami explains to his two companions about the sacredness of the Krishna-ganga River, “This place is known as Krishna-ganga.
Adi-varaha Purana states that whatever result one obtains by taking his bath in the five tirthas—Vishranti, Saukara, Naimisha, Prayaga, and Pushkara—one achieves ten times greater results every day by bathing at this Krishna-ganga.” During the period of British rule, these two sacred rivers Saraswati and Krishna-ganga were converted into drainage channels, or nalas, and today form part of the overflow system for the Delhi-Agra canal that was constructed by the British for irrigation purposes.
Situated near the Saraswati Sangama just behind the Mathura ‘All India Radio Station’, is the Gokarneshwara Mahadeva Mandira. The location of Ambika-kanana is about one mile to the east along the Mathura parikrama path going in the reverse direction, unfortunately the vast forest has now disappeared but one can still see Saraswati-kunda, the Saraswati River and the Ambika Devi Mandira, also known as Mahavidya Devi Mandira. Another important tirtha is located just 100 meters to the north of Gokarneshwara Mahadeva Mandira and is known as Rajaka-vadha-tila, where the envious washer-man who washed King Kamsa’s clothes was slain by Lord Krishna. All the holy places mentioned here which are located within Ambikavana, fall on the Mathura parikrama path including: Mahavidya Devi Mandira, Vidyadhara-kunda, Krishna-ganga River, Saraswati River, Saraswati-kunda, Rajaka-vadha-tila and Gokarneshwara Mahadeva.
