Daan-Ghati is one of the two main temple structures in

Govardhan Govardhan also called Giriraj, is a key pilgrimage centre in India and a municipal town; a nagar panchayat; seat of a MLA Member of the Legislative Assembly (India), Member of Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Uttar Pr ...

, near

Mathura Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately north of Agra, and south-east of Delhi; about from the town of Vrindavan, and from Govardhan. ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The other temple structure is called Dasvisa. It is involved in the

Govardhan Puja Govardhan Puja (), also known as Annakut or Annakoot (meaning a “mountain of food”), is a Hindu festival in which devotees worship Govardhan Hill and prepare and offer a large variety of vegetarian food to Krishna as a mark of gratitude. For Va ...

,a 21 kilometre circumambulation of the hill that it is believed Krishna lifted with his

little finger The little finger, or pinkie, also known as the baby finger, fifth digit, or pinky finger, is the most ulnar and smallest digit of the human hand, and next to the ring finger. Etymology The word "pinkie" is derived from the Dutch word ''pink ...

to protect his worshipers from the wrath of

Indra Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes/ref> I ...

, the Vedic god of rain. The temple was closed in March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Over time, this temple has slowly taken over the place of main temple of the town. Also, there has been much commercialization of the temple structure. With ever-growing touristic importance of the place, the commercial interests are growing and at times conflicts with religious worship. The temple reform was started by a Daan-Ghati management committee, established in the 1970s by

Shri Gopal Prasad Kaushik Shri Gopal Prasad Kaushik was born in Goverdhan. He was a prolific, popular multifaceted personality. He was a writer, social worker, freedom-fighter, poet, translator, an "Ayurveda"-vaidya, a farmer and much more. Including many of his books ...

, one of the prominent citizens of the town. In 2019, the temple committee approached the State Human Rights Commission alleging that the temple's assistant manager had embezzled over 100 million

rupees Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

from temple funds.

References

Hindu temples in Mathura district {{india-hindu-temple-stub