Celebrations in Bharatpur that you must attend.

Bharatpur, also is known as the Eastern gate of Rajasthan, was previously a walled city but is not anymore. The name of the place is said he kept after Bharat who was Lord Ram’s brother is in the Hindu mythology. The people of Bharatpur worshipped Laxman who was another brother of Lord ram as their family deity. The place was founded in the year 1733 by King Suraj Mal.

The festival of Brij Mahotsav is a celebration of unity and love. The festival is celebrated in the Shukla Paksha Phalgun. The celebrations last for about three days. It falls in the month of March of every year, a few days before Holi. The festival is celebrated in honor of Lord Krishna. During the festival, both men and dress up in colorful outfits to celebrate. They sing songs and perform the Raslila Dance which is a dance unique to only this festival. the raslila depicts the entire love story of Lord Krishna and Radha. The performers dress up according to their characters and stage the entire routine during the festival. People also visit the Radha Krishna mandir to offer their prayers and to seek blessings from the deities. Before visiting the temple in the morning, the people take a dip in the holy water at the Ghats of the Banganga river. The people believe that taking a dip in these holy waters will cleanse and purify your soul.

This festival is a popular tourist attraction as apart from the traditional dances and folktales, it is also a festival of color where the people put colors on each other. It is a festival of merriment where people sing, dance and drink as they come together in celebration of the festival.

The term raslila broadly means, ‘the dance of the divine love.’ It is a traditional story and a part of the Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagwata Purana and literature such as the Gita Govinda. According to the religious scriptures, it is said that one night when the girls or women of Vrindavan (the place where Lord Krishna met Radha) heard Lord Krishna playing his flute they snuck out of their homes and went into the forest where they danced with Lord Krishna throughout the night. That night with the help of his powers, Lord Krishna makes it such that the night turns into a Night of Brahma or Kalpa which is a Sanskrit word which refers to a very long period of time. This Night of Brahma according to the Hindu unit of time, measures up to approximately 4.32 billion years. So, it is believed that that night Lord Krishna along with the girls, danced throughout the stretch of that time. Therefore, this dance of Raslila is considered to be a reflection of Lord Krishna’s love in the spiritual world to the love between humans in the material world.