Radha Ramana, Hindu temple in Vrindavan, India.
Radha Ramana is a temple in Vrindavan whose pale tan sandstone facade has a curved roofline with five cusped arched openings above a balustraded balcony. Below, an entrance arch is framed by ornate relief carving and supported by brackets. Signs over the arch read "श्री राधा रमण मंदिर" and "राधा रमण मन्दिर"; a red banner at left reads "श्री राधारमण देव" and "प्राकट्योत्सव".
Gopala Bhatta Goswami, son of the Srirangam priest Venkata Bhatta, came to Vrindavan at thirty after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu initiated him. In Nepal he collected twelve shaligramas from the Kali-Gandaki River; one of them, the Damodara shila, is said to have taken the form of Krishna playing a flute. The temple, which recently marked its 500th anniversary, kept its image in Vrindavan during Aurangzeb's 17th-century raids, when other images were hidden outside the city.
The name Radha Ramana means "lover (ramana) of Radha". Devotees treat the deity as alive: each day a chosen family is given the task of waking, dressing and feeding him. The image is dressed with peacock feathers, a crown, yellow cloth and a shining vaijayanti garland, with ornaments in the ears and a tilaka on the forehead. Classical Indian devotional music is performed at the temple nightly.
The temple stands in Vrindavan, in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, and faces the sandstone facade with its five cusped openings and balustraded balcony. Devotional classical music is performed nightly, so evening visits offer more than the daytime darshan. Visitors should dress modestly and remove footwear before entering the shrine.
Gopala Bhatta received twelve shaligramas from the Kali-Gandaki River; eleven stayed round stones, while the twelfth, the Damodara shila, is held to have become the three-fold bending form of Krishna. Devotees say the deity is alive and that one family is granted the daily duty of serving him.
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