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| Radha Madhav during Pushya Abhishek on 6th Jan 2023 |
First of all wish you a very happy new year. I have been away from blogging for a while now as I was visiting my hometown Kolkata and wanted to take things a bit slow and enjoy my time here. There are a couple of places I visited while I am in my hometown and will write one by one about them. One of the places I visited in the very first weekend of 2023 was Iskon Mayapur. This was on my bucket list for long as I had really enjoyed visiting the Iskon temples in Mumbai and Pune. So the beginning of the new year felt like a perfect time to visit this holy place.
Though one needs to hardly do any planning for visiting the other Iskon temples, for Mayapur you need to have a proper plan in place if you want to get the complete essence of the place, especially if you are visiting Mayapur for the very first time like me. I read a lot of blogs, went through a number of videos to create a detailed plan and schedule of my travel. And you will know why planning is crucial once you go through all the details I have given below. Also I thought it would be good to make a complete summary of the travel plan so that anyone planning to visit Mayapur finds it easy to plan themselves.
If you are visiting for the first time I would recommend you to stay for at least a night so that your itinerary is not very hurried and you can cover everything at a relaxed pace. I will be talking in details about the overall Mayapur experience in my next blog where we also covered Ghurni and Krishnanagar Rajbari on our way back. This post is mainly for capturing the entire details of Iskon Mayapur which will help you plan your trip. We visited Iskon Mayapur in the first weekend of January 2023, so all the details mentioned below are as per current information.
1. Where to Stay:
Iskon has several stay options with various tariff ranges, within the campus itself. And without a doubt these are the best options for you, as everything will be within walking distance. Some of the most popular stay options inside the campus are (Rates are as of January 2023):
| Name | Cost | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Gada Bhavan | Rs 500- Rs 5000 | Most popular |
| Chaitanya Bhavan | Rs 500 – Rs 1900 | Situated in the Brahmachari kitchen |
| Conch Bhavan | Rs 1500 – Rs 6000 | Beside Sri Sri Radha Madhab Mandir, most expensive |
| Gita Bhavan | Rs 400 Rupees – Rs 3000 | Far away from main campus |
| Vamsi Bhavan | Free for Life Members | Beside Ishodyan Bhavan |
| Isodyan Bhavan | Rs 1000 Rupees - Rs 3000 | Newest Building, excellent condition, lift present, ICICI ATM, Ample parking space |
| Namhatta Bhavan 1 and 2 | Rs 600- Rs 2500 | Right beside the entry gate |
| Gauranga Kutir | Rs 150 | Shared bathroom, Cheapest Accommodation |
| Nityananda Kutir | Starts from 300 Rupees | Brick rooms, shared toilet |
| Sruti Bhavan | specially made for youth and students | |
| Gour Nitai Dharmashala | Starts from Rs 150 | Shared bathroom, Location Besides Namhatta Bhavan |
The bhavans are maintained very nicely so the condition of the rooms is pretty good. You can book these bhavans online, but at the same time they don’t make all the bhavans available for online booking.
Booking link: Click Here
Or else you can go directly to any of these bhavans and try to get a room. I would not recommend that, as mostly the rooms get completely booked weeks in advance. So, if you are travelling with a family or aged folks, it is always better to pre-book.
2. Documents Needed & Bhavan Rules
- Single traveler is not allowed to stay (They will call you to confirm if on the booking they see 1 Adult mentioned)
- Visitors must carry a valid government photo ID (Aadhar, Passport, Driving License)
- No smoking or drinking or any type of intoxication is allowed in the campus (not even milk tea/coffee)
- Eating or carrying any type of non-vegetarian items inside the campus is strictly forbidden.
- Playing any mundane music loudly is not allowed within the campus.
- Married couples must have marriage registration certificate or legally matching IDs with them to avail accommodations
- Life Member discount is not applicable on online bookings
- No Pets are allowed inside the campus
- Check In – 9:00 AM & Check Out – 9:00 AM
3. Dress Code inside Iskon
There is no specific dress code mandated. However, it is advisable to wear modest clothes since it is a religious place. Also dress according to the season. During winter months it gets extremely chilly.
4. Best Season to Visit
Though Mayapur can be visited year long, its recommended to avoid Summers because of the heat and you need to do a lot of walking around the campus. So best season will be from August to March.
5. Best Time of the Week to Visit
Weekends are especially crowded as well as if there is any special religious festival at the campus. So, if you prefer it to be less crowded go on weekdays or Fridays. We went on Friday and came back on Saturday.
However there is a Elephant procession that happens on Saturday evening, so if you want to attend that, then stay back on Saturday.
6. Mayapur Climate
The hottest month in Mayapur, April, has days with highs of 41°C and lows of 24°C. The coldest month, January has days with highs of 25°C and lows of 8°C. If you are travelling in December or January, make sure to take enough warm clothes, especially puffer jackets/wind cheaters. The night temperature is unusually cold even within the hotel premises. Mayapur receives very heavy rainfall. Although the rain brings the temperature down by a few notches, several areas witness waterlogging during this time.
7. How to Travel from Kolkata
There are a couple of ways to travel to Mayapur.
Train : If you are travelling from Kolkata then you can either choose to board a local train from Sealdah/ Howrah (primary) and/or Dum Dum Junction/ Kolkata (secondary) stations.
- From Sealdah: Train ticket Fare Rs 25 per person
- You need to take a local train to Krishnanagar City Junction.
- From outside the station 1st option is to take a direct auto or toto to Mayapur Iskon. This will take about 50 minutes through the highway and would cost around Rs350-Rs400.
- The 2nd option is to take a shared or direct toto/auto to the Mayapur Ghat. This will cost around Rs 200 (direct) or Rs 60/per person (shared). Time taken around 30 minutes.
- Once you reach Mayapur Ghat, you can take a ferry ticket costing Rs 3 per person to cross the river and reach the other side which is called Hulor ghat. It will hardly take 5 mins to cross the river.
- After that either you walk to the Iskon temple or take a direct/shared toto to the Iskon temple. Total time would be around 40-50 minutes.
- The 3rd option is to take a direct bus from the Krishnanagar City Jn to Mayapur Iskon temple
- From Howrah: Train ticket Fare Rs 25 per person
- You need to take a local train to Nawadip Dham.
- From outside the station take a toto/auto to Mayapur Ghat. After that, cross the river in a ferry to reach Hular Ghat at Mayapur. Then either walk to the temple or take a toto/auto to reach the temple.
Bus: WBSTC operates daily 2 buses from Esplanade to Mayapur Iskcon Temple. \It also gives a stop at Airport Gate 1. They go till right inside the campus, beside Vamshi Bhavan Guesthouse.
Booking Website : Click Here
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| Bus Timings |
Car: You can easily access Mayapur by road, which is located at a distance of around 130 km from Kolkata.
- Route 1: Kolkata - Ranaghat - Mayapur (fastest)
- Route 2: Kolkata - Dhaniakhali – Mayapur
Please note the road condition is not that great in many stretches, so travelling by your own car may not be a very comfortable experience.
8. Food
Non-veg items are not allowed inside Iskon Campus. Even milk tea or milk coffee is not available inside. Outside the campus also you will hardly get a handful of places serving non-veg. So come mentally prepared for that. Below are some of the food options:
- Prasadam: Almost all the bhavans have prasadam options both for lunch and dinner. The cost of prasadam is different for every bhavan. Reach your bhavan before 12 PM to get a confirmed prasadam coupon for lunch. And for dinner you need to get the coupon by 6-6.30 PM.
- Govindas: Govinda’s restaurant is open from 7:30am. to 9:00pm. It offers different Indian and continental option. Fresh pizza is available during dinner time and south Indian dishes like dosas is available during breakfast hours. Its a relatively pricy place compared to other food joints inside the campus.
- Radha Madhava's Mahaprasad Restaurant: Here you can get tea, pasta, pizza, cakes, burgers, dosa, idli, ice cream, fruit juices, lunch, Mahaprasad, and many other items. It is very near to Ishodyan Bhavan
- Santa's Pizzeria - This place serves freshly made pizzas. The reviews are great but we did not have time to visit this place.
- Small Food stalls: Apart from the restaurants there are small food stalls spread across the campus selling Panipuri, juices, cakes, pastries, momo, masala tea, dosa, vada, water etc. We had panipuri from a stall near Ishodyan bhavan and it was delicious. If you really crave for milk tea the closest counterpart you will get is the masala tea which is milk infused with many herbs and spices. We had this at Karuna Kitchen near Prabhupada Pushpa Samadhi.
9. Facilities within Campus
- Washrooms: There are many public washrooms across the campus which you can avail at free.
- Drinking Water stations: Filtered drinking water booths are located near all main buildings.
- Shoe Counter : There are designated shoe counters beside all the main temples. You can keep shoe for free. They will give you a sack in which you need to place your shoes and hand it over. Though they do not charge for it, you can give a donation in the donation boxes present in the counter.
- Baggage Counter : There are a very baggage counters e.g near Govindas, where you can keep your bigger luggage (suitcases etc.) at a modest charge of Rs 10.
- Mobile/Camera Counter : Mobiles are not allowed within any of the temples, you can keep your mobile and cameras at the mobile counter for Rs 10.
- Car/bike Parking : Parking spots are available across the campus at specific places
- Wifi in rooms (selected bhavans) – We got wifi in rooms in Ishodyan bhavan
- Grocery Store: There is a grocery store at walking distance from Ishodyan bhavan named Simply Wonderful Grocery Store.
10. What to see within Iskon Campus
You can refer to the maps image below to see the location of these places inside the campus.
- TOVP ( New Chandrodaya temple) [A & B] - The Temple of Vedic Planetarium in West Bengal's Mayapur will be the world's largest temple and scheduled to open to the public in 2025. The temple is being built at an estimated cost of $100 million and can house about 10,000 devotees on each of its floors, where they can sing, pray and dance in front of Lord Krishna.The temple is envisioned by Acharya Prabhupada, who wanted a structure that would spread awareness about Vedic science. Right now its stil in construction phase, but they have a daily tour of the ground floor where you can get an idea of how big a project this is.
- Sri Sri Radha Madhab Mandir (Old Chandrodaya temple) [C] - This is the main temple. Radha Madhav temple is also known as the Chandrodaya Mandir on the main altar are the presiding deities: the beautiful larger than life size Sri Sri Radha Madhav, surrounded by Their Ashta-sakhis , and Narshimadev, PanchTatva and his Divine Grace A. C Bhaktivedanta is presiding inside the temple in different altars . Once TOVP is ready, the idols will be shifted inside TOVP which is the new Chandrodaya Mandir.
- Gaushala [D] - The ISKCON Mayapur Goshala is located in the south-east corner of the Mayapur campus. It is a happy home for more than 200 cows, bulls and calves. Here you can touch the cows and feed them specially made laddus. These laddus cannot be bought. You can give any amount of donation in lieu of which you will get some laddus which you can feed the cows. There is also a store at the ground floor where you can relish some of the dairy products and purchase ghee etc.
- Mayapur Full Dome theater [E] - A few religious movies are shown everyday inside the 360 degree dome and gives a complete immersive experience.
- Srila Prabhupada Pushpa Samadhi & Museum [F] - A memorial dedicated to the founder of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada, the Pushpa Samadhi Mandir is one of the most iconic places inside the campus. The complex includes a grand main shrine surrounded by a museum depicting the life of Srila Prabhupada.
- Bhajan Kutir [G]- When you walk in through the “main gate”, on the immediate left is the straw hut where Srila Prabhupada stayed from 1972 to 1976 while the first main building (the Lotus Building) was built.
11. Temple & Show Timings
- Sri Sri Radha Madhava temple:
- Mangala-arati: 4:30am (Temple closed from 5:30AM – 7 AM)
- Darsana-arati: 7:00am
- Class on Srimad-Bhagavatam (English and Bengali separately): 8:00am
- Bhoga Offering : 11:45 AM
- Bhoga-arati: 12 noon (Temple closed from 1:00PM – 4:00PM)
- Dhoopa Aarti : 4:00 PM
- Sandhya-arati: 6:00pm
- Class on Bhagavad-gita (Bengali): 7:30pm
- Shayana Aarti : 8.15 PM (Temple closed from 8:30PM – 4:30AM)
- Srila Prabhupada’s Pushpa Samadhi Mandir
- Srila Prabhupada arati: 4:00am
- Srila Prabhupada Guru Puja : 7:30am
- Bhoga-arati : 12:15pm
- Sandhya-arati : 6:00pm
- Boat Ride on Ganges/ Gaga Aarti :
- Ganga boat ride every evening is one of the other main attraction. You can go for these rides to see Ganga aarti, kirtan by the prabhus and triveni sangam darshan. Tickets need to be bought by afternoon. The boat ride starts around 4PM and it a one hour ride.
- Full Dome Show timings:
The full dome planetarium theater is a major attraction in Iskon Mayapur. Located close to Govinda’s restaurant on the ISKCON Mayapur campus, it’s twelve meters in diameter, has 108 comfortable inclined theater seats, and features a tilted dome to give audiences a 360-degree immersive experience.The theater is currently hosting two films. The first, entitled “The Churning,” offers a unique look at the Srimad-Bhagavatam pastime of “Samudra Manthan,” or the churning of the Ocean of Milk by the demigods and demons to produce Amrit, a nectar that would make them invincible. This show utilizes classic paintings from Srila Prabhupada’s books mixed with 3D graphics.The second film, 9 Steps to Eternity, explores the nine islands of Navadvipa, and the corresponding nine forms of devotional service to the Lord. It uses parallax motion effects against a surreal computer-generated cosmic universe. However when we visited in Jan 2023, the second film show was suspended.
| Samudramanthan - The Churning | 9 Step eternity (was suspended for time being) |
|---|---|
| 10.10 | 10.50 |
| 11.30 | 12.10 |
| 12.50 | 13.30 |
| 14.10 | 14.50 |
| 15.30 | 16.10 |
| 16.50 | 17.30 |
| 18.10 | 18.50 |
| 19.30 | 20.10 |
12. What to see in Mayapur
For local sightseeing of Mayapur Town, one can hire a toto from right outside the campus. A 2 hr tour can cost anything between INR 400-500 (depending on negotiation). Following are some of the places they will take you to:
- Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s birthplace - established by Bhaktivinoda Thakur in 1880s and houses the neem tree under which Prabhu is said to be born as Nimai
- Chaitanya Math - which is Prabhu’s aunt’s place and has a beautiful pond where one can feed the huge fishes swimming in the pristine water
- Ballal Dhipi - which holds spectacular ruins of what is known to have been a citadel dating back to the 12th century CE. It is a mound-like structure that spans over 1, 300 square feet and rises to more than 30 feet in height
- Chand Kazi Samadhi : Chand Kazi was recognized as the magistrate of Nabadwip who went against the Harinam Sankirtana movement in Mayapur and destroyed the mridanga of Srivash Pandit, who was the leader of the Sankritana. He believed in the Islam religion. This Samadhi stands strong to celebrate his turning into a faithful follower of Shree Chaitanya Prabhu.
- Nabadwip - birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu there are many religious spots you can visit here. It will take half a day to visit all the spots.
13. What to buy
Within the campus there are many stores where you can buy souvenirs of all varieties—Krishna idols, trinkets, prayer tools, framed photos, bags, idol clothes, flutes, ghee, jewelry, handicrafts and books. Also Mahaprasadam (dry packed prasad) is available in prasadam stalls for purchase. Outside the campus there are many markets where you will get souvenirs, dresses, restaurants, flower shops, fruit shops etc.
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