This book presents a comprehensive study of the region where Krishna, one of the most popular gods of devotional Hinduism, is believed to have spent his early years as a cowherd boy. The area of Braj, lying between Delhi and Agra, is visited annually by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, who come to see the sacred sites associated with the romantic legends of Krishna's youth. Many of them follow a pilgrimage circuit over 300 km in length that takes up to eight weeks to complete and includes such famous places as Mathura, Vrindaban, and Gokul. For many centuries the Krishna legends have been a...