4:30 amKeshi Ghat

Spend one day in Vrindavan

Wake before sunrise on the Yamuna. Steal butter with Kanha's friends, call the cows home with his flute, shelter under Govardhan in Indra's storm, and join the Raas beneath the autumn moon.

Best with sound on. Every scene answers your touch. Or walk the real Vrindavan Parikrama.

Brahma muhurta, 4:30 am, Keshi Ghat

Float a diya on the Yamuna

The temples are still dark, but the conches have begun. Along the ghat, women kneel at the water with little leaf boats, each carrying a ghee lamp. Tap the river to set yours afloat.

जय यमुना मैया

Glory to Mother Yamuna, the river Krishna loved

Tap the water

Morning, 7 am, Nand Bhavan in Gokul

Help Kanha steal the butter

Mother Yashoda has gone to the cowshed. The butter pots hang from the rafters, out of reach, she thinks. Kanha is already standing on Subal's shoulders, and he is pointing at you. Tap the pots.

मैया मोरी, मैं नहिं माखन खायो

"Mother, I did not eat the butter." Surdas

Tap a pot

Midday, 11 am, the forests of Braj

Play the flute and call the cows home

The herd has wandered across the Yamuna meadows. Kanha leans against a kadamba tree and hands you his bansuri. Every note you play calls a cow back. Play Sa Re Ga Pa Dha in order and see who comes to dance.

मुरली मनोहर

The one whose flute steals every heart

Play a hole on the flute below

On a keyboard, keys 1 to 6 play the holes.

Afternoon, 2 pm, Kaliya Daha

Dance on the hoods of Kaliya

A many-headed serpent has poisoned this bend of the Yamuna; the grass on its banks has turned grey. Kanha has leapt from the kadamba branch onto Kaliya's hoods. Tap each hood as it lights up to keep his rhythm. Every step clears the water.

कालिय मर्दन

The taming of Kaliya

Press "Start the dance"

Late afternoon, 4 pm, Govardhan Hill

Hold up Govardhan in Indra's storm

This year Braj worshipped the hill instead of Indra, and Indra has answered with seven days of rain. Kanha lifts Govardhan on the little finger of his left hand, and all of Braj, cows and calves and grandmothers, shelters beneath it. Press and hold to lift the hill. Keep holding for seven days.

मेरे तो गिरधर गोपाल, दूसरो न कोई

"Mine is Giridhar Gopal, there is no other." Meerabai

Press and hold anywhere

Dusk, 6:30 pm, the hour of cow-dust

Offer the evening aarti

The herd comes home in a cloud of golden dust, a bell at every neck, and Kanha walks among them with his flute. The lamps are lit. Hold the brass thali and circle the shrine seven times.

आरती कुंजबिहारी की, श्री गिरिधर कृष्ण मुरारी की

Aarti to the one who wanders the groves, who held the hill

Drag the thali around the shrine

Sharad Purnima, midnight, Nidhivan

Join the Raas under the full moon

The flute has called every gopi out of her house. In the ring there is a Krishna beside each one, and each is certain he dances only with her. Take your place, then clap to keep the tala. Drag across the circle to spin it.

राधे राधे

The greeting of Braj, and its whole prayer

Radhe Radhe

अधरं मधुरं वदनं मधुरं नयनं मधुरं हसितं मधुरम्।
हृदयं मधुरं गमनं मधुरं मधुराधिपतेरखिलं मधुरम्॥

His lips are sweet, his face is sweet, his eyes are sweet, his smile is sweet. His heart is sweet, his walk is sweet; everything about the Lord of Sweetness is sweet. Madhurashtakam

Vrindavan wakes again at 4:30. Your lamps will still be on the river.

Walk the Vrindavan Parikrama