4.KUMUDAVANA (Kaduvana)

 

Krishna and his friends would come and play in this forest. Kumuda means "water-lilies". During Krishna's time, beautiful water lilies grew here. Kumuda is a bright red flower that used to grow in  abundance here and that is why this forest got the name Kumudavana. This is the smallest of the 12 forests. It has a parikrama of 1 km (1 mile).In the Kumudavana forest on the bank of  Padma-Kunda, is a small temple dedicated to Lord Kapila. He performed austerities here during Treta-yuga. According to the Varaha Purana if one takes bath in Padma-Kunda he acquires all the  knowledge of the Vedic literature. The Kapila temple is very small (8 feet by 8 feet) with a small Deity of Kapila about a foot high. This temple is about 10 feet from the kunda.

 

How to Get Here: Kumudavana is about 9 km (6 miles) from Mathura.It is located half a km off the road that goes between Mathura and Sonk (Sonk road). If you are driving from Vrindavana you  get on the main Delhi-Agra road going towards Agra. You drive about 15 minutes on this road until you reach the Mathura-Sonk Road. You make a right on this road going towards Sonk. After  about 8 km you reach a four feet high concrete sign on your left, that has an arrow on it pointing to the right saying Uchagrama in Hindi. There is a dirt road that goes to the left and a paved road  that goes to the right. You make a left onto the dirt road and drive about a minute until you reach a small dirt road. You make a left, and then you follow the road around to the left. Located here is  Padma-Kunda.