The City of Kṛṣṇa's Birth
Mathurā is one of the sapta-purī (seven sacred cities) of Hindu tradition and the most important of the Kṛṣṇa-tīrthas. Kṛṣṇa was born here in the prison of King Kaṃsa — his parents Devakī and Vasudeva were imprisoned by Kaṃsa who had been told that Devakī's eighth child would slay him.
The divine birth happened at midnight (Janmāṣṭamī) — and immediately Vasudeva carried the newborn Kṛṣṇa across the flooding Yamunā river to Gokula, to be raised by Yaśodā and Nanda.
The Mathurā-Vṛndāvana Circuit
Mathurā, Vṛndāvana, and Gokula form a sacred triad — the three sites of Kṛṣṇa's early divine life. Pilgrims visiting the Braj region circumambulate this circuit as one of the most sacred Vaishnava pilgrimages.
Mathurā in Sri Vaishnava Context
For Śrī Vaiṣṇavas, Mathurā is revered through the Bhāgavata Purāṇam and other Kṛṣṇa narratives. The tenth skandha is not confined to Mathurā: it moves through Kṛṣṇa's birth in Mathurā, the childhood līlās of Gokula, Vraja and Vṛndāvana, the return to Mathurā, and the later Dvārakā narratives. The Gokula-Mathurā-Vṛndāvana episodes are especially prominent in the Āzhvārs' Kaṇṇan songs.