Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
This is the latest in a long line of temples built at this spot where the ancient Keshava Mandira was first built by Vajranabha Maharaja, the king of Mathura, more than five thousand years earlier. The temple is generally known as the Keshava Deva Mandira (Keshava Deo Mandira) or as Keshava Rai Mandira, and the original Deity of Lord Keshava Deva carved by Vajranabha was the residing Deity of this temple. It is said that the Deity of Lord Keshava Deva was carved out of pure black marble with large rubies for eyes.
The first temple of Lord Keshava Deva was built by Vajranabha soon after the disappearance of Lord Krishna. Three thousand years later a second temple was constructed on the same spot on a grand scale by the Gupta Dynasty ruler Chandragupta-Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) who ruled from 380 to 415 CE. This second temple was destroyed in 1017 CE by the notorious Afghan-Turk invader Mahmud of Ghazni. According to an inscription found on a stone slab at the site, a third magnificent temple was built in 1150 CE by a wealthy landowner named Jajja under the patronage of the local ruler Raja Vijaypala Deva.
According to accounts by early European travelers in the 15th Century, at the peak of its glory, the Keshava Deva Mandira, which was constructed out of the finest red sandstone, was far greater in size than even the Jagannatha Temple at Puri in Odisha (Orissa). The base (plinth) of the Keshava Deva Mandira is said to have measured 217 x 34 yards, and its three shikaras or domes reached over 250 feet into the sky and clearly visible from a distance of at least twenty-five kilometers away. Tavernier, a French traveler who visited Mathura around 1650 CE says, “After Banaras, the most famous temple of India is situated at Mathura. It is octagonal in shape. Red sandstone has been used in it. All round the temple, the stone claddings have inscriptions of various kinds of animals. The Jagmohana is built upon one half of the temple’s vast courtyard. At the center is the main Mandap. The temple has many windows and is so vast that it can be seen from a distance of 5 to 6 kosas.” From the descriptions of the Italian traveler, Manuchi, it is clear that the gold canopied top of the temple could be seen even from Agra, which is at a distance of 18 Kosas (54 Kilometers). When lamps were lit on the occasion of Deepavali, at night the light could be seen by the Mughal Emperor from his fort in Agra.
It is said that the third Keshava Mandira built in 1150 CE was destroyed at the beginning of the 16th century by the soldiers of the Sultan of Delhi, an Afghan-Turk despot named Sikanda Lodhi, also called ‘Butt Shikan’, or the ‘Destroyer of Hindu Deities’. Sikanda Lodhi ruled between 1486 and 1517 CE and it is said that the Keshava Mandira was destroyed towards the end of his reign. Historians mention that after the Keshava Mandira was destroyed by Sikander Lodi, a makeshift shrine (garbh-griha) was established within the ruins of the temple where the Deity of Lord Keshava Deva was being worshiped.
According to some researchers, when Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu arrived in Mathura on pilgrimage in 1515 CE, He visited the Keshava Mandira that was built during the rule of Raja Vijaypala Deva before it was destroyed by Sikander Lodhi, however others believe that this particular temple had already been destroyed and therefore Lord Chaitanya had darshana of the Lord Keshava Deva Deity when the Deity was being worshiped in the make-shift shrine. It has been mentioned in the Bhakti-ratnakara that upon seeing the beautiful Deity of Lord Keshava Deva, Lord Chaitanya chanted the holy names and danced in ecstasy before the Deity for many hours. Large crowds gathered to see the unusual spectacle of the Lord’s exhibiting such ecstatic transcendental emotions as He danced in ecstasy and chanted before the Deity of Lord Keshava Deva. In the Bhakti-ratnakara Raghava Pandita Goswami says, “O Shrinivasa, look at Keshavadeva. In this place Shri Chaitanya once danced in ecstasy. Those who saw Him dance thought that He was Shri Krishna Raya Himself. Who can describe Keshavadeva’s glories? Whoever circumambulates Keshava in Mathura attains the virtue of circumambulating the earth with its seven islands. Singing Keshava Raya’s glories will destroy sins committed in this age and in ages to come.”
During the reign of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, a fourth temple was built by the Rajput prince Raja Vir Sinh Bundela, a vassal of the Mughals, who ruled over Orchaa in Bundelkhand from 1605 to 1627 CE. Raja Vir Sinh enjoyed a special favor with Emperor Jahangir on account of his support for his succession to the throne after the death of Akbar the Great. The temple built under the patronage of Raja Vir Sinh Bundela was one of the most magnificent temples ever built in India and enjoyed veneration throughout the Indian sub-continent. In the year 1670 CE, this magnificent temple was destroyed on the orders of Emperor Aurangzeb who visited Mathura to personally oversee its destruction. Aurangzeb then ordered that a grand mosque be built on the same raised plinth (foundation) where the Keshava Deva Mandira had once stood and the sandstone blocks from the demolished temple where used in the mosque’s construction.
Just prior to the attack on the Keshava Mandira by Aurangzeb in January 1670, the Deity of Lord Keshava Deva was secretly taken to the village of Bhudauli near the town of Rasadhana in Kanpur District of Uttar Pradesh State. After destroying the Keshava Mandira, Emperor Aurangzeb built a mosque known as the Shahi-Eidgah where the Keshava Mandira had previously stood. During this period of Aurangzeb’s attack on Mathura and Vrindavana, many important Deities were secretly removed for safe keeping. The famous Harideva Deity from Manasi-ganga at Govardhana was also taken to Bhudauli and both these Deities, Keshava Deva and Harideva, were being worshiped there from that time. Unfortunately, during the late sixties or early seventies, the Deity of Lord Keshava Deva was stolen by thieves and nobody knows its present whereabouts. However, the Deity of Lord Harideva is still being worshiped at Bhudauli.
Sometime later in the year 1803 CE, the Mughal armies were defeated by the British and Mathura came under the rule of the British East India Company. In 1815 CE, in order to appease the local Hindus, the East India Company sanctioned the sale of the vast Keshava temple compound known as the Katra-Keshavadeva, accept the area occupied by the Shahi Eidgarh Mosque and the adjacent Mohammedan graveyard. The Katra-Keshavadeva compound was immediately purchased by Raja Patnimal of Banaras. Some years later Raja Patnimal’s heir Raja Krishna Das, who held the ownership rights over Katra-Keshavadeva was challenged in court on two separate occasions by the local Muslims of Mathura. However, in both the cases, the Allahabad High Court ruled that Raja Krishna Das was the legal owner of the Katra-Keshavadeva. Then in 1944, the nationalist leader Madan Mohan Malaviya acquired the Katra-Keshavadeva from Raja Krishna Das for the token sum of Rs. 13,000/-, which covered only the cost of fighting the two court cases and far less than the true value of the land.
Later in 1951, with the support and financial assistance from two prominent industrialists namely, Jugal Kishore Birla and Jaidayal Dalmia, a private trust was formed under the title of the Keshava Mandira Trust and in 1953 CE, construction began on the fifth and present temple of Lord Keshava Deva. The new temple was built on the land next to the place where the original Keshava Mandira once stood, now occupied by the Shahi Idgarh Mosque. The new temple built on a grand scale was opened in the year 1982 CE and in this temple one can have darshana the pratibh-murti of Lord Keshava Deva.
In an old basement room previously attached the Shahi Eidgarh Mosque that had been used as living quarters by the mosque’s attendants; trustees of the Keshava Mandira Trust claimed that the room was the actual prison cell where Lord Krishna had been born. When this basement room was constructed by the mosque managers, by chance it protruded onto Katra-Keshavadeva land and fell under the control of the temple trust. There is absolutely no historical or shastric records to substantiate the claim that this basement room was the actual site of the Janmasthana. Previous to this claim, the Prachin-janmasthana located in the adjacent Mallapur area was recognized as Lord Krishna’s actual birthplace. Gaudiya Vaishnava scholars have concluded that the Prachin-janmasthana should be recognized as the actual site of Lord Krishna’s birth and the new janmasthana located behind the newly-built Keshava Mandira can be seen simply as a smriti-sthala, which means a shrine of remembrance with regard to Lord Krishna’s birth.
