Catalog
Krishna's legend is set across northern and western India: born in Mathura, raised around Gokul, Vrindavan and Govardhan Hill, then his city of Dwarka in Gujarat, the battlefield of Jyotisar and his last place at Bhalka. The seven stops follow the story from birth in a prison cell to his death by a hunter's arrow. Most sites are traditional identifications, so the labels say how firm each pin is.
Tradition links the Mahabharata to northern India: the Kuru court at Hastinapur near Meerut, Kampil for Draupadi's contest, Delhi's Purana Qila as Indraprastha, and Jyotisar, where Krishna speaks the Bhagavad Gita. The five Pandava brothers survive a murder plot, lose everything in a rigged dice game and meet their hundred cousins in an eighteen-day war at Kurukshetra. Northern India is dotted with places that tradition links to the story, several of them with real Iron Age remains. This route follows the Pandavas through those traditional sites. They are identifications of faith and local memory; archaeology has found ancient towns, but not the epic's events.