About 6.5 crore devotees visited the rural belt of Mathura and Vrindavan during the holy month of ‘Purshottam’ that ended on Monday after beginning on May 17, the Mathura police claimed.
A majority of devotees visited Govardhan and Barsana, besides taking on the 260-kilometer long track for the Chaurasi Kos Parikrama (circumambulation) 125 km of which pass through Mathura.
Suresh Chandra Rawat, SP, Rural Mathura, said that elaborate arrangements were made for this inflow of visitors during the holy month.
“Almost 2.5 crore devotees logged the Parikrama at Govardhan in Mathura while about 3 crore devotees undertook Chaurasi Kos Parikrama and about a crore devotees visited Barsana.
“Personnel including 25 inspectors, 60 sub-inspectors and 350 policemen were placed on track of the Parikrama and lodged at different locations of Mathura. 88 barricades were installed and CCTV, security posts and police assistance centres were activated to keep an eye on proceedings,” the SP claimed.
Besides these locations, these devotees also visited Banke Behari temple in Vrindavan which saw an unbroken chain of devotees all through the month specially on weekends.
The about-260-kilometer-long Chaurasi Kos Parikrama passing through states of UP, Haryana and Rajasthan was the major attraction. The Mathura district administration had sought cooperation from locals to drive safely as the devotees for this ‘yatra’ come on to Mathura roads at night to beat the day time heat for covering this long track in 40 days.
“This month of Adhik Mas comes after every three years but the inflow this time was unprecedented and the highlight was the youth which comprised 80% of the inflow.
“On an average, a lakh devotees visited Banke Behari temple in a day this month. Earlier, the devotees were mostly from Delhi and National Capital Region, but this time, devotees came from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and even southern states for a change. The new trend was inflow for Chaurasi Kos Parikrama which otherwise is logged in the Kartik month, near Diwali, but devotees took to the track despite heat and rough weather,” he said.
