Please Download Our Android App to Continue Editing

The Krishna Janmasthan Temple Complex is a group of Hindu temples in Mallapura, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India. These temples are built where Hindu deity Krishna is believed to be born.

The place has held religious significance since the 6th century BC. The temples were destroyed multiple times throughout history, most recently by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1670. He erected a mosque Eidgah there which still stands. In 20th century, the new temple complex adjacent the mosque was built with the financial help from industrialists containing the Keshavdeva temple, the Garbha Griha temple at the birthplace and the Bhagavata Bhavan.

According to Hindu traditions, Krishna was born to Devaki and Vasudeva in a prison cell where they were confined by his maternal uncle Kansa, a king of Mathura, due to prophecy of his death by the child of Devaki. According to tradition, a temple dedicated to Krishna was built the birthplace by his great grandson Vajranabh. The present site known as Krishna Janmasthan (lit. 'birthplace of Krishna') was known as Katra (lit. 'market place') Keshavdeva. The archaeological excavations of the site had revealed pottery and terracotta from 6th century BC. It also produced some Jain sculptures as well as a large Buddhist complex including Yasha Vihara, a monastery, belonging to Gupta period (c. 400). Cunningham opined that Hindus may have occupied the former Buddhist site. The Vaishnava temple may have erected on the place as early as the first century. Some late 8th century inscriptions mentions donations to the site by the Rashtrakutas. In 1017 or 1018, Mahmud of Ghazni attacked and plundered Mahaban. Ghazni's scribe, though not accompanying him on the expedition, Al Utbi describes in his Tarikh-i-Yamini neighbouring holy town which is identified as Mathura. He wrote, "In the centre of the city there was a huge and magnificent temple, which the people believed wasn’t built by men but by the angels... Any description of the temple, either in words or in pictures, would fall short and fail to convey its beauty." Mahmud of Ghazni wrote, "if any one wished to construct a building equal to it, he would not be able to do so without spending a hundred million dinars, and the work would occupy two hundred years, even though the most able and experienced workmen were employed." He ordered to burn all the temples and demolish them. He plundered gold and silver idols and carried away a load of hundred camels. A stone inscription in Sanskrit found from the site mentions that in Vikrama Samvat 1207 (1150) a person named Jajja who may have been a vassal of Gahadavala king built a Vishnu temple which was 'brilliantly white and touching the clouds'. Vaishnava saints Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Vallabhacharya visited Mathura in early 16th century.