Holi Gate

Holi Gate is the great ceremonial arch that stands sentinel at the mouth of Mathura's old city, the point where the modern town gives way to the tangle of lanes, temple spires and sweet-shop counters that make up the ancient Chowk Bazar.

• Far more than a piece of architecture, it functions as a civic landmark and a meeting place: locals give directions by it, processions form beneath it, and at Holi the surrounding square erupts into the colour and abandon that lend the gate its name.
• For a first-time pilgrim arriving in Krishna's birthplace, this is often the first real taste of Braj at full volume.
• The gate marks the threshold of Mathura's most famous trade.
• Radiating out from its base are the halwai counters that have made the town synonymous with peda for well over a century.
• Here you find the distinctive Mathura lal peda, a caramel-brown khoya sweet slow-roasted to a deeper hue than the pale Vrindavan variety, alongside trays of khurchan (delicate layered milk skin), fresh mawa and desi-ghee namkeen.
• The scent of simmering milk and cardamom hangs permanently in the air, and the rhythmic scrape of the kadhai is the neighbourhood's constant soundtrack.
• From the arch the lanes run down towards the Yamuna, linking Holi Gate to the living devotional core of Mathura.
• A short walk brings you to the Dwarkadhish Temple and, beyond it, the riverfront steps of Vishram Ghat where the evening aarti unfolds.
• The gate itself is not a temple and keeps no darshan hours; it is simply always there, busiest in the cool of morning and again as the bazar lights come on at dusk.
• For the vegetarian traveller Mathura is a joy, and Holi Gate is its edible epicentre.
• Everything sold here is pure-vegetarian and egg-free by long tradition, from the peda to the bedmi-aloo and kachori-sabzi breakfasts.
• One firm caution, though: Mathura sits in one of India's heaviest bhang (cannabis) belts, and thandai or lassi laced with bhang is sold openly at some roadside stalls and government theka shops near the old city, especially around Holi and Mahashivratri.
• A bhang thandai can look and be named almost exactly like an ordinary one, so buy your milk drinks only from a reputable sit-down sweet house and ask plainly for a plain, non-intoxicating thandai.
• Stick to the established halwais and you will eat superbly and safely.
• Give Holi Gate half an hour to soak in the theatre of the bazar, then use it as the launch point for a slow walk to the ghats.
• Come with an appetite, small change for the sweet counters, and patience for the wonderful, chaotic crush of one of India's most atmospheric market gateways.