Surabhi Kund

Surabhi Kund is a quiet, wooded water tank tucked into the Kadamba Van forest near Poonchari, at the southern reach of the Govardhan parikrama around 22 km west of Mathura.

• It sits well off the busiest stretch of the 21-km circumambulation, on the right-hand side of the path as pilgrims move up from Poonchari toward Daan Ghati, making it one of the loop's most peaceful and least-crowded stops.
• Ancient kadamba and other old trees ring the kund, and Giriraj Govardhan can be glimpsed from its banks, so the place feels less like a monument and more like a shaded forest clearing where the parikrama slows down.
• In Braj tradition the kund is tied to Surabhi, the celestial wish-fulfilling cow.
• When the residents of Braj, on Krishna's counsel, worshipped Govardhan Hill instead of Indra, the king of the gods sent down seven days of deluging rain, and Krishna lifted the hill on His little finger to shelter the people and cattle.
• Indra, humbled and repentant, is said to have come with Surabhi to seek forgiveness; the mother-cow petitioned on behalf of Indra and anointed Krishna with the milk of her udder, and Krishna's forgiving glance settled the quarrel.
• Devotees know this spot as an aparadha-kshamana sthali, a place associated with the pardoning of offences, and tradition holds that Vajranabh, Krishna's great-grandson, established the kund in Surabhi's memory.
• The samadhi of the Ashtachhap poet Parmanand Das is also remembered here.
• The kund is open ground with no ticket and no fixed hours; it is best folded into a Govardhan parikrama begun before sunrise, when the forest is cool, the light is soft and the water mirrors the trees.
• Come with modest dress, walk barefoot as pilgrims do on the parikrama if you wish, and keep voices low out of respect for those doing their circuit.
• For vegetarian travellers, Govardhan and Braj as a whole are pure-vegetarian by custom and municipal rule, so eating here is simple and safe.
• There are no restaurants at the kund itself, so most pilgrims carry prasad, fruit and water for the long walk; the nearest dependable pure-veg, egg-free kitchens are back in Mathura and Vrindavan, roughly 22 to 26 km away.
• One firm caution for Braj: bhang (cannabis) thandai and lassi are sold openly in and around Mathura, and a spiked drink can look and be named almost exactly like an ordinary one.
• Skip roadside thandai and stick to trusted sweet shops and temple bhojanalayas for your peda, kachori and thali.