Mathura: A District Memoir — A very rare Vrindavan Guide Book from 1874!
We have been able to acquire the last copies of “Mathura: A District Memoir”, a truly amazing book first published in 1874 which could be called an encyclopedia and dictionary on Mathura and Vrindavan in 1874.
It is written by F.S. Growse who was a British District Officer in the East India Company days.
He lived for many years in Mathura and produced this fabulous book documenting all aspects of Vrindavan and Mathura at the time. The book includes many illustrations and stunning photographs of the area including many photographs of the Vrindavan area and temples.
It is superb book and we have the remaining copies from the last printing in 1978, they will not last long so please get this while it is still available. When these copies are gone this fabulous book is out of print…
That such a book exists is completely amazing. It is so interesting to see what Vrindavan and Mathura were like in the 1870’s and the photos included in the book are stunning.
F.S. Growse, well known as a scholar and archaeologist, while stationed in Mathura as a district officer for the British East India Company produced this monumental study of Mathura and Vrindavan by studying the traditions, language, religious customs and other manifestations of the local culture at the time. He witnessed and recorded all the local festivals connected with Krishna.
His study was well timed as it was made at a time when many of the old traditions were dying — a fact which Growse complains about — in the wake of a “new” society emerging out of the British contacts.
Nowhere else have these seemingly trivial pieces of information about the Vedic culture of Vrindavan and Mathura been recorded. This is a truly unique book. Growse documents the religious movements, caste system, social institutions, languages, the history and legends, the monuments and temples, and even the local luminaries. His work shows precision and depth and is evidence of his deep and continuous research among the Indian people and their culture.
Growse says in his introduction: “I dwell at considerable length on the legends connected with the deified Krishna, the divinity of the district…
[because] they have materially effected the course of local history are are still household words, to which allusion is constantly made in conversation, either to animate a description or to enforce an argument.”
He goes on to say: “So much irreparable damage has been done in past years from simple ignorance as to the value of ancient architectural remains, that I have been careful to describe in full every building in the district which possesses the slightest historical or artistic interest. So “Mathura — A District Memoir” is a truly unique and rare book fully documenting in an encyclopedic way the district of Mathura / Vrindavan in the 1870’s.
The stock of these books is very strictly limited and the books we have are printed in 1978 and are exact replicas of the Third Edition form 1883. When this stock is gone it is no longer available.
You can get it at:
http://krishnastore.com/
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
About the Author
Madhudvisa dasa My first contact with a Hare Krishna was a most merciful Mataji in Oxford Street, London who sold me a "Higher Taste" cook book in 1984 while I was on holidays there. I started seriously reading Srila Prabhupada's books in Australia 1985 and by 1986 Srila Prabhupada had convinced me "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead" and "we should surrender to Krishna." I joined the Hare Krishnas in Perth, Western Australia in 1986. Since then I have been chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and preaching as much as I can. That's my life and full-time occupation now really. I like it more than anything I've ever experienced before. Srila Prabhupada's books are so amazing... Even after reading them all many times they're still fresh and new. They are truly transcendental! That's it really. Now I'm just hankering to once again see the world chant Hare Krishna, dance and feast and float away in the ecstasy of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement as it did in Srila Prabhupada's physical presence. Let the whole world drown in the ecstatic flood of love of Krishna!
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