Taxonomy of Pilgrimage Fruits
The first third of Rūpa’s Māhātmya consists of general praise of Mathurā-maṇḍala, in which Rūpa invokes verses from various Purāṇic sources that extol the fruits of pilgrimage to the region and the distinguishing characteristics that set Mathurā-maṇḍala apart as the most celebrated of all the tīrthas. With respect to the fruits (phala) of pilgrimage to Mathurā-maṇḍala, Rūpa’s Māhātmya highlights many of the fruits that are also mentioned in the Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa, but through his use of headings Rūpa creates a rudimentary taxonomy in which he classifies the fruits in distinct categories and presents them in an ordered progression that implies a ranked assessment of their relative merit, from lowest to highest. His ranked assessment of the fruits of pilgrimage begins with a celebration of the purifying power of Mathurā-maṇḍala to remove sins (pāpa-hāritva), including the residual karmic impressions that the pilgrim has accumulated from sinful actions in previous births.182 In a later section of the Māhātmya, he invokes a series of Purāṇic verses that extol the power of Mathurā-maṇḍala to bestow liberation (mokṣa-pradatva) from saṃsāra, the cycle of birth and death. Like the purifying power of the name discussed in Chapter 4, the purifying power of the land is connected with its liberating power, for when the mound of sins and their residual karmic impressions that the pilgrim has accumulated in the course of multiple lifetimes are destroyed, he or she is liberated from the root cause of bondage that perpetuates the cycle of birth and death.183 Moreover, Rūpa invokes a verse from the Saura Purāṇa that suggests that both the purifying power and the liberating power of Mathurā-maṇḍala derive from Kṛṣṇa himself, who during his sojourn on earth purified the entire land with the dust from his lotus-feet. By merely touching (sparśana) the land that has been consecrated by the footsteps of the supreme Godhead, the pilgrim is purified and attains liberation.
There is a place that is renowned in the three worlds by the name Mathurā, whose roads and ground have been purified by contact with the dust from the feet of Kṛṣṇa. By touching (sparśana) that [ground], a person is liberated (root muc) from all bondage (sarva-bandha).184
Following the section on the liberating power of Mathurā-maṇḍala, Rūpa’s Māhātmya includes three sections in which the ideals of Vaiṣṇava bhakti supersede liberation as the ultimate goal to be attained through pilgrimage to the region of Mathurā. The first of these sections extols the efficaciousness of Mathurā-maṇḍala in granting those who die there not only liberation from rebirth but entry into Viṣṇuloka (Viṣṇuloka-pradatva).185 The next section celebrates the power of Mathurā-maṇḍala to bestow the most cherished goals of human existence (sarvābhīṣṭa-pradatva).186 In this context the Māhātmya invokes an unidentified verse from the Padma Purāṇa, which Rūpa also cites in the Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu, that maintains that those who seek refuge in Mathurā-maṇḍala can attain the three mundane goals (trivarga)—kāma, artha, and dharma—along with the transmundane goal of mokṣa, liberation, which together form the four puruṣārthas, ends of human existence.187 In addition, the pilgrim can attain that which is ascribed the highest status in the hierarchy of pilgrimage fruits delineated by Rūpa’s Māhātmya: bhakti, devotion.
What wise person would not take refuge in Mathurā, which bestows the three mundane goals [kāma, artha, and dharma] on those who seek such goals, bestows mokṣa on those who seek mokṣa, and bestows bhakti on those who seek bhakti?188
This section of Rūpa’s Māhātmya continues by invoking an extended passage from the Padma Purāṇa that claims that the wondrous glories of Mathurā-maṇḍala derive from two aspects of Kṛṣṇa’s inherent śakti with which he has infused the land: tāraka, which bestows mukti, liberation; and pāraka, which bestows prema-bhakti, the highest form of bhakti that is experienced internally as an unbroken state of transcendent bliss (akhaṇḍa-paramānanda) and expressed externally in ecstatic dancing, singing, and weeping.189 The final section of Rūpa’s Māhātmya that is concerned with the fruits of pilgrimage elaborates on the power of Mathurā-maṇḍala to bestow bhakti (bhakti-pradatva).190 The Māhātmya invokes an unidentified verse from the Padma Purāṇa, which Rūpa also cites in the Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu, that suggests that the preeminent status of Mathurā-maṇḍala as the greatest of all tīrthas derives from its special capacity to bestow the supreme goal of human existence that is sought after even by those who have attained liberation: bhakti to Hari.
The greatest fruit (phala) attained at other tīrthas is mukti, but bhakti to Hari, which is sought after even by those who are liberated, can be attained only in Mathurā.191
In addition to extolling the fruits of pilgrimage to Mathurā-maṇḍala, Rūpa’s Māhātmya devotes a section to glorifying those who become residents of Mathurā (Mathurā-vāsins). The Māhātmya invokes a series of Purāṇic verses that ascribe a semidivine status to those who reside in Mathurā, suggesting that through continually abiding in the abode of Kṛṣṇa they imbibe the divine śakti with which the land is saturated: they attain four-armed (catur-bhuja) forms comparable to that of Kṛṣṇa in his manifestation as Viṣṇu and reside on earth as gods (devas) embodied in human forms (nara-vigraha). Even though ordinary human beings who are immersed in ignorance cannot perceive the special status of the residents of Mathurā, an advanced sādhaka whose eye of knowledge (jñāna-cakṣus) is open can “see” (root dṛś) their divine forms.192
Hierarchy of Pilgrimage Networks
Rūpa’s reconfiguration of the traditional Māhātmya material is evident not only in his hierarchical taxonomy of the fruits of pilgrimage to Mathurā-maṇḍala but also in his hierarchical ordering of the principal networks that constitute the pilgrimage circuit. He begins his discussion of the pilgrimage circuit by surveying the boundaries (sīmā) that circumscribe Mathurā-maṇḍala, which is twenty yojanas (approximately 160 miles) in circumference.193 He then invokes the tradition in which Mathurā-maṇḍala is represented in the shape of a lotus, citing a passage from the Skanda Purāṇa that is nearly identical to the parallel passage, quoted earlier, from the Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa:
Mathurā-maṇḍala… has thousands of tīrthas where the activities of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma occurred.… This lotus bestows mukti on all, O most fortunate one. Keśava, the destroyer of afflictions (kleśas), is stationed in its pericarp (karṇikā), O Devī. Those people who die while in the pericarp are eligible for mukti, O Vasuṃdharā [Pṛthivī], and those who die on the petals [of the lotus] also attain mukti. Having seen the deity Hari, the Lord of lords, who resides in Govardhana on the western [petal], one’s mind is purified. Having seen the most auspicious deity Govinda on the northern [petal], one does not fall again into saṃsāra until the time of the final deluge. Having seen the tīrtha of the deity known as Viśrānti who is stationed on the eastern petal, a person attains mukti, of this there is no doubt. On the southern [petal] there is an image (pratimā) of me [Varāha], which is divine in form, great in stature, and beautiful, resembling the appearance of Keśava. Having seen that image, O Devī, a person is revered in Brahma-loka.194
Like the parallel passage in the Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa, this passage in Rūpa’s Māhātmya presents an incipient maṇḍalization of the area of Vraja, investing the geographic place that functions as a pilgrimage maṇḍala, or circuit, with the status of a transmundane space that also functions as a cosmic maṇḍala presided over by five manifestations of Kṛṣṇa. Keśava is stationed in the center of the lotus-maṇḍala, while four other manifestations of Kṛṣṇa serve as guardian deities of the four cardinal directions on the transmundane plane and as mūrtis presiding over the pilgrimage circuit on the earthly plane: Harideva on the eastern petal, Govinda on the northern petal, Viśrānti on the eastern petal, and Varāha on the southern petal. As in the Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa, Rūpa’s Māhātmya represents four of the five mūrtis on the lotus as key nod
es in the principal pilgrimage networks that constitute Mathurā-maṇḍala: Keśava and Viśrānti are ascribed primacy of place in the pilgrimage network of the city of Mathurā, Govinda presides over the pilgrimage network of Vṛndāvana, and Harideva presides over the pilgrimage network of Govardhana.
Having provided a schematic framework for the overall pilgrimage circuit of Mathurā-maṇḍala through invoking the image of the lotus, Rūpa’s Māhātmya treats the principal pilgrimage networks in an ordered progression in which he interjects headings at critical points to call attention to clusters of tīrthas as well as individual tīrthas. The order in which the pilgrimage networks are treated suggests not only an idealized pilgrimage itinerary but also a hierarchical assessment, from lowest to highest, of the relative importance of each network to the Gauḍīya project: from the Mathurā pilgrimage network to the network of twelve forests to the Vṛndāvana pilgrimage network to the Govardhana pilgrimage network, culminating in Rādhā-kuṇḍa at Govardhana. The hierarchy implied in the Māhātmya’s sequential treatment of the pilgrimage networks is made explicit by Rūpa in the following verse from another of his works, the Upadeśāmṛta:
Madhupurī [Mathurā] is greater than Vaikuṇṭha because Kṛṣṇa took birth there. The forest of Vṛndāvana is even greater because the celebration of the rāsa[-līlā] occurred there. Mount Govardhana is even greater because Kṛṣṇa delighted in holding it aloft with his hand. But Rādhā-kuṇḍa is the greatest because it overflows with the ambrosial nectar (amṛta) of the preman of the Lord of Gokula. What discriminating person would not perform devotional service (sevā) to this kuṇḍa shining forth at the base of Mount Govardhana?195
Rūpa devotes an extended section of his Māhātmya to the benefits of circumambulating (pradakṣinā or parikrama) the city of Mathurā, which is located in the forest of Madhuvana, and visiting the most important tīrthas along the pilgrimage route.196 The pilgrimage itinerary begins at Kṛṣṇa’s birthplace (janma-sthāna) with circumambulation of the mūrti of Keśava that stands at the center of the pericarp of the lotus-maṇḍala.197 The pilgrimage then progresses east to Viśrānti-tīrtha on the bank of the Yamunā River, which is singled out, along with the mūrti of Keśava, as one of the most important tīrthas in the city of Mathurā.198 As in the Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa, Viśrānti-tīrtha is celebrated in Rūpa’s Māhātmya as the central node in the network of twenty-four bathing tīrthas that are arrayed in the shape of a half moon on the bank of the Yamunā.199
The second major pilgrimage network addressed by Rūpa’s Māhātmya is the network of twelve forests, which are enumerated in an order that corresponds to that of the Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa: Madhuvana, Tālavana, Kumudavana, Kāmyavana, Bahulāvana, Bhadravana, Khadiravana, Mahāvana, Lohajaṅghavana (Lohavana), Bilvavana, Bhāṇḍīravana, and Vṛndāvana.200 Three of the twelve forests are ascribed particular significance in Rūpa’s Māhātmya: Madhuvana, Mahāvana, and Vṛndāvana. Madhuvana, the first of the twelve forests, is extolled as the forest that surrounds the city of Mathurā.201 Mahāvana is celebrated as the forest where Kṛṣṇa’s early childhood adventures occurred, containing sites such as the Yamalārjuna-tīrtha, where the mischievous butter thief uprooted a pair of arjuna trees, and the site where he overturned a cart (śakaṭa).202 Vṛndāvana, the culminating forest in the twelve-forest schema, is extolled as a pilgrimage network in its own right.203
The forest of Vṛndāvana is re-visioned in Rūpa’s Māhātmya as an encompassing pilgrimage network that includes within it not only the pilgrimage sites that are generally associated with Vṛndāvana in Māhātmya literature but also the network of pilgrimage sites associated with Mount Govardhana. The Māhātmya invokes a series of Purāṇic verses that extol this vast, densely wooded area as a lush pastoral playground—as distinct from the domesticated city of Mathurā—interwoven with countless tīrthas that mark the sites where Kṛṣṇa played with the gopas, gopīs, and cows in the groves and meadows of the forest, on the banks of the Yamunā River, and on the slopes of Mount Govardhana.204
This sacred (puṇya) Vṛndāvana, which is protected by the goddess Vṛndā, is inhabited by Hari and attended by Rudra [Śiva], Brahmā, and so on. Vṛndāvana is a very deep, extensive, and dense forest, filled with an abundance of plants and animals and replete with numerous hermitages (āśramas) of sages. Just as Lakṣmī is very dear to the Lord and just as people who express great bhakti are very dear to him, in the same way this earthly Vṛndāvana is very dear to Govinda. Mādhava [Kṛṣṇa] plays (root krīḍ) in Vṛndāvana along with Balarāma, accompanied by cows and calves and surrounded by cowherd boys. O how delightful is Vṛndāvana, where Mount Govardhana is located and where many tīrthas mark the sites of Lord Viṣṇu’s activities.205
The section in Rūpa’s Māhātmya devoted to specific pilgrimage sites in Vṛndāvana draws on inherited traditions while at the same time interjecting Gauḍīya interests in a number of ways. For example, in contrast to the Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa, which ascribes importance to the mūrti of Govinda as the central node in the pilgrimage network of Vṛndāvana but does not discuss the tīrtha where the ritual image is located, Rūpa devotes a separate subsection in his Māhātmya to the Govinda-tīrtha that he himself is credited with establishing.206 Rūpa’s Māhātmya invokes Purāṇic verses that extol the “great temple (mahā-sadman) of Govinda in Vṛndāvana”—an apparent reference to the Govindadeva temple that Rūpa established to house the mūrti of Govinda that he discovered. The temple is celebrated as the “Vaikuṇṭha of Govinda on earth” where Kṛṣṇa dwells surrounded by his retinue of servants. More specifically, Kṛṣṇa is held to be embodied there “in the form of an image (arcātmaka) called Govinda-Svāmin.”207 Rūpa’s Māhātmya allots a separate subsection to Brahma-kuṇḍa in Vṛndāvana, a kuṇḍa that is briefly mentioned in the Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa but is not named.208 As I will discuss later, Brahma-kuṇḍa is ascribed special significance in Rūpa’s Māhātmya as the site of a “wonder” (āścarya) in the form of a radiant aśoka tree invested with transcendent features that can be perceived only by realized bhaktas with purified vision.209 Rūpa’s Māhātmya allots separate subsections to three tīrthas that are briefly treated in the Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa: Keśi-tīrtha, the site where Kṛṣṇa slew the horse-demon Keśī;210 Kāliya-hrada, the pool where Kṛṣṇa subdued the serpent Kāliya by dancing on his heads;211 and Dvādaśāditya-tīrtha, the site where Kṛṣṇa warmed himself with the rays of the twelve Ādityas.212 Rūpa’s Māhātmya introduces a distinctively Gauḍīya emphasis into its treatment of Kāliya-hrada, which, as I will discuss later, is represented as a “sacred (puṇya), hidden (guhya), transcendent (para) pool” and as the site of a “great wonder” (mahad āścarya) in the form of a luminous kadamba tree invested with transcendent features that, like the aśoka tree in Brahma-kuṇḍa, can be perceived only by realized bhaktas.213
Mount Govardhana, as mentioned earlier, is represented in Rūpa’s Māhātmya as located within the forest of Vṛndāvana, and therefore the sites associated with Mount Govardhana are subsumed within the encompassing pilgrimage network of Vṛndāvana as a subsidiary network of tīrthas.214 Like the Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa, Rūpa’s Māhātmya extols Govardhana as the mountain that Kṛṣṇa lifted up to protect the cowherds, cowmaidens, and cows from the incessant downpour of Indra’s rain. Rūpa’s Māhātmya invokes a series of verses from the Ādivarāha Purāṇa, which are variants of verses found in the Varāha Purāṇa’s Māhātmya, that recommend a pilgrimage itinerary that includes bathing in Mānasa-Gaṅgā, obtaining darśana of the mūrti of Harideva, and circumambulation (pradakṣinā or parikrama) of Mount Govardhana.215 After general praise of the glories of Mount Govardhana, Rūpa’s Māhātmya allots separate subsections to two kuṇḍas that are also mentioned in the Mathurā Māhātmya of the Varāha Purāṇa but are not named
: Brahma-kuṇḍa216 and Govinda-kuṇḍa.217 While Rūpa’s Māhātmya thus provides an account of the Govardhana pilgrimage that accords in certain ways with the Varāha Purāṇa’s Māhātmya, at the same time it recasts the inherited material with distinctively Gauḍīya valences. This is particularly evident in the language and imagery that are used in Rūpa’s Māhātmya to invest Mount Govardhana with transcendent features. As I will discuss later, like Kāliya-hrada, Mount Govardhana is represented as a “hidden (guhya), transcendent (para) place” and as the site of a “great wonder” (mahad āścarya) that can be seen only by exalted bhaktas.218
Rūpa’s Gauḍīya interests are also evident in the way in which he shapes the ordered progression of pilgrimage sites in his Māhātmya to culminate in a celebration of the most important site in the Gauḍīya pilgrimage itinerary: Rādhā-kuṇḍa. Rūpa’s Māhātmya cites a number of Purāṇic verses that extol the glories of Rādhā-kuṇḍa, which is most dear to Kṛṣṇa among the tīrthas in Govardhana, just as Rādhā is most dear to him among the gopīs.219 He invokes a verse from the Skanda Purāṇa that suggests that bhaktas who are devoted to Kṛṣṇa are granted a special visionary experience at Rādhā-kuṇḍa on Dīpāvali, the festival of lights, during the month of Kārttika: they “see” (root dṛś) the entire universe unfold before their eyes at this pond where Kṛṣṇa reveled in love-play with his beloved Rādhā.220 In the passage from the Upadeśāmṛta quoted earlier, Rūpa suggests that Rādhā-kuṇḍa is the greatest of all tīrthas in Mathurā-maṇḍala—greater than even the forest of Vṛndāvana and Mount Govardhana—because this pond “overflows with the ambrosial nectar (amṛta) of the preman of the Lord of Gokula.”221
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