Sri Navamohana Krishna Perumal Temple, Gokul (Aayarpadi)

Sthala Purāṇam

Thiruvaaipadi (Aayarpadi/Aaippadi), in modern Gokul on the banks of the Yamuna river near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, is the cowherd settlement where Sri Krishna spent his childhood. The presiding deity is Navamohana Krishnan, worshipped here as the divine child raised by the cowherd chief Nandagopan and his wife Yashoda; the consorts enshrined are Rukmani and Sathyabama Thayar, and Nandagopar is regarded as a foremost worshipper. The sthala puranam recalls Krishna's pastoral leelas among the Aayar (cowherd) folk, and a celebrated legend of Akrura (Akroorar): when Sathyabama longed to behold Krishna, Akrura impersonated him; for this he was cursed to be born blind in a future life as the poet Surdas (Soordasar), who nonetheless attained liberation through devotion. The Yamuna serves as the temple tirtham, and a nearby ancient shrine at Purana Gokulam houses idols of Nandagopar, Yashoda and Balarama along with the infant Krishna in a cradle. As a Divya Desam, Thiruvaaipadi received the mangalasasanam of three Alvars in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham: Periyalvar, Andal (the only woman Alvar), and Thirumangai Alvar. Their pasurams overflow with the joy, playfulness and intense maternal and devotional love that the inhabitants of Aayarpadi felt for the divine child, evoking Krishna's butter-stealing, his protection of the cattle and cowherds, and his irresistible enchanting beauty (the name Navamohana means 'newly enchanting one').

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