Nandagaon

The village in Mathura district where Krishna's foster-father Nanda is said to have moved from Gokul when the demons grew too dangerous, and where Krishna spent his cowherd childhood. The Nandbaba temple at the top of the hill is paired with the Radha temple at Barsana four kilometres away. The Lathmar Holi festival a week before the main Holi — Barsana women drive the Nandgaon men back with sticks in a theatrical reversal of Krishna's visits to Radha — is the most distinctive seasonal observance of the Braj. The temple's foundation is traced to Vajranabh, Krishna's great-grandson, with later Rajput and Vijayanagara patronage.