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Banke Bihari Mandir is a Hindu temple is one of the most revered temples in the holy city, which lies in the district of Mathura. The temple is dedicated to Lord Krishna and enshrines the idols of Lord Krishna and Goddess Radha as its chief deities. The deity of Banke Bihari was initially worshipped at Nidhivana. Here ‘Banke’ stands for ‘bent in three places’ and ‘Bihari’ stands for ‘supreme enjoyer’. The idol of Lord Krishna, which rests in the temple, is in the posture of Tribhanga. It is believed that the idol of Lord Krishna was initially discovered by Haridas Swami, who used to worship the idol by a name called as ‘kunj Bihari’, which stands for ‘ enjoyer of lakes’ and used to worship the deity there at Nidhivana.
The temple is beautiful as well as it fetches in the fascinating tales along with it.
Though this temple is rather young when compared to other holy shrines, this temple witnesses heavy rush and it is virtually loaded with devotees during the eve of Janmashtami and Jhulan Yatra. Unlike the other temples, the deities are always not open to the devotees and only once in a year the lotus feet of the lord can be seen. The deities are covered under a curtain and each time the drape is pull shut and then unwraps again. The deity is ornamented heavily with flowers and it is a delightful site to watch such a lovely idol of lord Krishna.
It is believed that during the time when Haridas ji used to meditate and one day his disciples entered Kunj, the very place where Haridas ji use to meditate, but nothing but a flash of intense bright light appeared in front of them, the light was so much intense as it affected the eyes of the people present there and made them blind for that very moment. When Haridasji got to know about this incident, he went to the kunj and prayed God to give him His sight, along with Haridas ji’s disciples. The Lord was obliged with the request and appeared before them along with the Goddess Radha. The beauty of the couple was overwhelming that it left people that were present there, were left wide-eyed open. Then Haridas ji requested the Gods to take a single form and God, upon Haridas ji’s request took its form and it is believed that it is the same idol which is present in the temple, today. This is the reason why it is not allowed to gaze continuously at the idol of Lord, especially in His eyes and for that the priests regularly draw curtain so that it prevents the continuous contact with the idol or else the very onlooker will lose his consciousness.
The festivals which fetches in a grand celebration here at the temple are Hariyali Teej, Janamashtmi, Holi and Sharad Poornima. The timings of the temple are scheduled in accordance with the weather and season and generally it is opened between 9 am to 12 noon and 7 pm to 12 pm in summer and; 10 am to 1 pm and 6 pm to 9 pm in winter.