Pilgrims make a huge rush to Mathura, Vrindavan

A huge rush of devotees and pilgrims to the twin pilgrim towns of Mathura and Vrindavan on the New Year day choked roads and jammed traffic in all directions.

"The influx was unusual. Evidently people want to start their New Year on a religious note with a darshan of Bihari Ji," said a panda at Vrindavan, Madhu Mangal Shukla.

"Today (Thursday) being an auspicious day of Vaikunth Ekasdashi coinciding with New Year, the rush was expected," explained a priest of Daan Ghati, Gopi Nath.

The road to Govardhan hill was lined up with vehicles as pilgrims thronged the holy town for a parikrama -- walk along the periphery -- of the Goverdhan hill which is said to have been lifted by Shri Krishna on his little finger to protect Brajvasis from torrential rain as a result of the wrath of Indra Dev.

In Vrindavan, police teams removed encroachments to ensure smooth flow of traffic, but beyond the Chatikara Crossing, the long serpentine queues of people and vehicles created chaos.

Pavan Gautam, a local resident, said: "I spent more than two hours to reach Mathura from Vrindavan, just ten km away. Vehicles were stuck and the crowd was barely able to move."

In Mathura, a large number of visitors reached the famous Dwarkadheesh temple since morning. Many pilgrims began the New Year day with a holy bath in the Yamuna at the Vishram Ghat.

The hotels and dharamshalas in Mathura put up houseful boards Wednesday itself. "Since Wednesday morning, we were expecting a huge rush from Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and neighboring Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh of pilgrims who would begin the year with a darshan of Shri Bihari ji," said a local resident, Kunj Bihari.

A large number of people began the New Year with a parikrama of the Goverdhan, some performing it by pouring milk from a pitcher all along the 21 km periphery of the goverdhan hill, said local priest Shanti Prasad.