About twenty-five miles north of Udaipur, in the state of Rajasthan's south-central area, is the city and holy place (tirtha).
A temple at Nathdwara has an image of Lord Krishna in the
guise of Shrinathji.
The figure was initially buried on top of Mount Govardhan, a
peak in the Braj area where Krishna is claimed to have dwelt, according to
legend.
Vallabhacharya, the founder of the Pushti Marg religious
group, received the location of the picture in a dream.
Vallabhacharya erected a temple atop Mount Govardhan to
house it, and his family have been the image's hereditary serfs ever since.
Fears that the Moghul emperor Aurangzeb might destroy the
image led to its relocation to the state of Rajasthan in 1669.
Shrinathji is said to have shown his desire to remain in
Nathdwara by digging his wagon's wheels deep into the ground, preventing it
from moving any farther.
Because Nathdwara is a rather distant region, it is a secure
spot to store the photograph.
