Karoli (Karauli) - Madan Mohan temple

Karoli is about 182km southeast of Jaipur and about 100km southwest of Mathura. It is a small town and is home to the important Madana-Mohan Temple. There is an interesting City Palace with a good collection of sculptures and paintings. Madana-Mohan Temple Madana-Mohan means “one who can even enchant Cupid.” In the temple, there are three altars. Madana-Mohan stands on the center altar, with Sri Radha on his left and Lalita Devi on his right. On the left altar is Gopalaji Krishna with Radha and Lalita. The king of Karoli worshiped these Deities 100 years before Madana-Mohan came to Karoli. The Deity receives a midday offering consisting of fifty-six dishes. Most of the preparations are sweet—malpura, sweet samosas, and other items. These Deities were worshiped by Sanatana Goswami in Vrindavan at the Madana-Mohan Temple. Maharaja Jai Singh brought Madana-Mohan to Jaipur from Vrindavan. His brother-in-law, Maharaja Gopal Singh, had a dream in which Madana-Mohan said “Take Me to Karoli.” He then told Maharaja Jai Singh about the dream and asked permission to bring Madana-Mohan to Karoli. Maharaja Jai Singh told him if he could distinguish Madana-Mohan from Govinda and Gopinatha, the two other main Deities of Jaipur, while blindfolded, then he could take the Deity. When Gopal Singh was blindfolded, he directly approached Madana-Mohan and touched his feet.