Shri Akroorji Maharaj

Akroor Village, Akroor Ghat and Shri Akroor Ji Temple

The source describes Akroor Ghat (Anant Tirth) on the Yamuna, where Krishna showed Akroor Ji both the two-armed Krishna-Balarama form and the four-armed eternal form seated on Shesha, served by all incarnations. The Garga Samhita’s Mathura section and the Varaha Purana are cited; the latter compares bathing here during a solar eclipse with the merit of Rajasuya and Ashvamedha sacrifices, and with bathing at Kurukshetra after an eclipse.

After the Mahabharata war, at Arjuna’s request, Krishna is said to have revealed his original form again at this pool. Bhaktiratnakar and the Shaurya Purana (Vachan Pancham) are cited for the belief that bathing at Akroor Ghat on a full moon, especially Kartik Purnima—the day Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited Akroor village—frees a person from worldly cycles.

The original account states that Akroor village still stands near the ghat and dates back to the Dvapara age. It says Akroor Ji had twelve brothers and that their twelve branches later helped resettle Mathura under Vajra, Krishna’s great-grandson and Aniruddha’s son. It records a Krishna-Balarama temple here in Vikram Samvat 450 (393 CE), now in ruins, remains of an ancient pool, and the local tradition that the images of Taleshwar Mahadev and Krishna-Balarama emerged from that pool.

The Chaitanya Charitamrita reference says Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited in 1515 CE and, after bathing at Akroor Ghat, fainted in devotional ecstasy, experiencing the same emotion attributed to Akroor Ji. The account mentions the 1534 CE establishment of Madan Mohan and Govind Dev temples in Vrindavan, disciples receiving alms from Akroor village, the settlement being the only one on the Mathura–Vrindavan route, and installation of images in a new temple by Barahsaini or Varshney Vaishyas in 1693. It also notes the ancient Panchmukhi Hanuman and Ghateshwar Mahadev shrines.

Dedicated to Krishna, Balarama and Akroor Ji, the temple is on the Mathura–Vrindavan route, on the road opposite Sadhvi Ritambhara Ji’s Vatsalya Gram. The source describes it as a unique sacred site for the Varshney community and says the Mathura–Vrindavan parikrama is incomplete without visiting Akroordham. Darshan of Panchmukhi Hanuman and Kamadhenu in the complex is considered especially auspicious.