NATHDWARA, a town in the of Mewar. It is the most celebrated of the lanes of Krishna. Its etymology is the portal (Dwara) of the god (Nath), of the same import as his more ancient shrine of Dwaraka at the world's end. Nathdwara is 22 miles N.N.E. of Udaipur, on the right bank of the Banas. It owes its celebrity entirely to an image of Krishna, said to be the same that had been worshipped at Mathura ever since his deification, between 1100 and 1200 years before Christ. When Aurangzeb (Alamgir T.) endeavoured to root out the worship of Krishna at Mathura, rang Raj Singh of Udaipur obtained permission to bring the idol to Mewar, and it was escorted with vast pomp by the route of Kotali and Rampura ; but in Mewar, at a place called Siarh in Delwara, the chariot wheel stuck fast, on which the rao of Delwara, one of the 16 great nobles of Mewar, declared it an omen of the god's wish to remain there, and conferred on Nath-ji all the lands of the village. A temple-was erected for
the idol, and around it has grown the present Nathdwara. Rich offerings are sent here from all parts of India. From the little ridge on the east, to the banks of the Banas on the west, precincts of the god, has always been a sanctuary, within which no blood can be shedrno arrest made, and the criminal is free from pursuit.. Nathdwara is one of the most frequented places of pilgrimage, though it must want that attraction to the classical Hindu which the caves of Gaya, the shores of the distant Dwaraka, or the pastoral Vrij, the placedi butes six male and six female shawl goats, and three pairs of Kashmir shawls.
The maharaja maintains an army of 25,000 infantry, 140U cavalry, and 160 guns. His dominions comprise the Kashmir valley, also Ladakh, and lead in the Gilgit valley towards of the nativity of Krishna, present to his itnagina tion.—Tod's Rajasthan, i. p. i21.