Krishna Janmasthan

The Krishna Janmasthan at Mathura marks the prison cell where Hindu tradition says Krishna was born to Devaki and Vasudeva, who were held captive by Krishna's uncle Kamsa, the king of Mathura. Krishna's great-grandson Vajranabh is credited with the first shrine on the spot.

The Gupta emperor Chandragupta II rebuilt a temple there around 400. Mahmud of Ghazni plundered Mathura in 1017 and burned its temples, and an inscription of 1150 records a new white Vishnu temple raised by Jajja. Sikandar Lodi of Delhi destroyed the shrines early in the sixteenth century, yet the saints Chaitanya and Vallabhacharya came to worship at the birthplace.

In 1618 Raja Vir Singh Deo of Orchha built an octagonal Keshavdeva temple in red sandstone. Aurangzeb had it demolished in 1670 and raised the Shahi Eidgah mosque on its foundations; Mathura passed to British control in 1804.