History Of Mathura

Mathura has an ancient history. As per the ASI plaque at Mathura museum, the city finds mention in the oldest epic Ramayana. In the epic, the Ikshwaku prince Shatrughna slays a deamon called Lavanasur and claims the land in Aryan fold. The place hence came to be known as Madhuvan as it was thickly wooded, Madhupura and later Mathura. Deeper research shows us that the deamon that Shatrughan killed in Ramayana was Lavanasur who was the progeny of a devout king Madhu who gets Lord Shiva's Trident in a boon in the puranas. The Puranas ascribe the founding of the city to Ayu, the son of Pururuvas and celestrial nymph Urvashi. The city might also have got its name from a famous Yadav king Madhu who reigned in around 1600BCIn the 6th century BC Mathura became the capital of the Shursen republic. The city was later ruled by the Maurya empire (4th to 2nd centuries BC) and the Sunga dynasty (2nd century BC). It may have come under control of the Indo-Greeks some time between 180 BC and 100 BC. However, it would then have briefly reverted to Indian rule before being occupied by the Indo-Scythians during the 1st century BC. Archaeological evidence seems to indicate that, by 100 BC, there was a group of Jains living in Mathura [Bowker]. Mathura Art form and cluture reached its Zenith under the Kushan dynasty which had Mathura as one of their capital, the other being Purushpur( Peshawar). The dyanasty had kings with the name of Kadphises, Kanishka, Huvishka and Vasudeva. All the Kushans were patrons of Buddhism except Vasudeo ( mentioned on coins as BAZODEO). Kanishka even hosted the third Buddhist council. The first two being hosted by Ajatshatru and Ashoka the Great. The headless statue of Kanishka is placed in Mathura museum and ranks among the most amazing sculptures unearthed.Megasthenes, writing in the early 3rd century BC, mentions Mathura as a great city under the name Μέθορα (Méthora).Mathura served as one of the Kushan Empire's two capitals from the first to the third centuries. The Mathura Museum has the largest collection of redstone sculptures in Asia, depicting many famous Buddha figurines. In 634 Xuanzang had visited the Mathura town. He went east to Jalandhar in eastern Punjab, before climbing up to visit predominantly Theravada monasteries in the Kulu valley and turning southward again to Bairat and then Mathura, on the Yamuna river.The city was sacked and many of its temples destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1018 and further by Sikandar Lodhi who earned the epithet of 'But Shikan- The destroyer of idols) The Keshav Dev temple was partially destroyed by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who built the city's Jami Masjid (Friday mosque) on the same site, re-using many of the temple's stones. It was won over from the Mughals by the Jat kings of Bharatpur but subsequently the area got passed on to the Marathas.The main Krishna shrine is presently the Dwarkadeesh temple, built in 1815 by Seth Gokuldas Parikh, Treasurer of Gwalior.