the miraculous. 55
Caitanya came here to identify the sites. He used to sit in meditation near the same
long-lived kadamba tree under which the cowherd women had emerged without
their clothes, and pray that he, too, would lose the veils before his eyes. In a state of
ecstasy, he became aware of the location of many of the sacred sites, and other holy
men associated with him identified additional ones. When Caitanya left Vrindaban,
he charged his most able followers, the Six Goswamis, to establish Vrindaban as a
pilgrimage center where reenactments of the pastimes of Radha, Krishna, and their
companions could be enjoyed by devotees.
About two hundred years later, Raja Sawai Jai Singh of Amber, the most power-
ful minister of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and a devout worshipper of Radha
and Krishna, established a retreat for himself in Vrindaban. The two-and-a-half-
acre site he chose was a stretch of riverbank just downstream from the kadamba tree,
which included Radha’s and Krishna’s landing places and the place where Caitanya
used to sit. There he constructed a house for himself; a pavilion on the riverfront,
marking the place where Caitanya had sat; behind it, a shrine to Caitanya and two
of his close companions; ghats, or steps leading down to the river at Krishna’s and
Radha’s landing places; and a temple for his personal deity. Jai Singh also built a
large platform next to his house, for the performance ofrasa lilas, musical dance
dramas depicting the pastimes of Krishna and his companions.
This compound came to be known as Jaisingh Ghera, and today the kadamba tree
and all the buildings are still standing. It was here that Jai Singh drew up the plans
for the pink city of Jaipur. After his death, Jaisingh Ghera remained in the hands of
the rajas of Amber and Jaipur, and after Independence it passed under the control
of the state government of Rajasthan.
In 1962 Jaisingh Ghera was purchased by the foremost leader of the Caitanyite
branch of Krishna worship, Parampujya Jagadguru Sri Purushottam Goswami ji
Maharaj, known to his followers as Maharaj-ji. He is a direct descendant of one of
the followers of the Six Goswamis. An energetic leader, he, his family, and follow-
ers have established a thriving spiritual and cultural center at Jaisingh Ghera. The
center patronizes music and the arts, as well as scholarship on Vrindaban and on the
spiritual traditions of those who worship Krishna, and supports the rasa lilas with
their associated arts. A building to house these activities was built, encompassing
Jai Singh’s residence, as well as a performance hall on the site of the old rasa lila
platform.
Part of the property along the river had been leased to a small school by the Ra-
jasthani government, and for thirty years this area could not be used by the
Goswamis. In the late summer of 1992, the school was vacated, and Jaisingh Ghera