Shrinathji Temple

The Shrinathji Temple at Nathdwara, also called the Haveli of Shrinathji, is dedicated to Shrinathji, a form of Krishna, and is a major pilgrimage centre for Vaishnavas. The image is held to have manifested itself from the stone of the Govardhan hill near Mathura, where legend says Krishna's raised left arm first appeared in 1466 and was worshipped for generations.

In 1672, to keep it from Aurangzeb, the image was taken from Mathura, sheltered at Agra for about six months and then carried south by chariot. At the village of Sihad the cart sank axle-deep in mud and would not move, and the priests took this as the Lord's chosen place; a temple was built there that year under the protection of Maharana Raj Singh of Mewar. In 1802, as Jaswant Rao Holkar marched on Nathdwara, the image was escorted to Udaipur while his army plundered the town and temple, and it came back to Nathdwara some years later after a stay at Ghasiyar.