A Glimpse into the Archaeological Antiquity of Vrindavan Vinay Kumar Gupta 1 1 . Agra Circle, Archaeological Survey of India, 22- The Mall, Agra, Uttar Pradesh – 282 001, India (Email: archaeologist1@gmail.com) Received: 11 August 2020; Revised: 05 October 2020; Accepted: 22 November 2020 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 8.1 (2020): 171-188 Abstract: Vrindavan town near Mathura is one of the most sacred places in India and can be considered the epicenter of bhakti cult. In spite of its fame, not much is known about the archaeological antiquity of the town and generally it is believed that the town became a prominent centre of Krishna bhakti only during the medieval period and that too after the arrival of Vallabhacharya and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Besides the Krishna cult, two shrines of deep antiquity and high reverence are Katyayani temple (a saktipitha) and Gopesvara temple (a Saiva shrine) but unfortunately no ancient remains are available at these shrines due to modern constructions. During the sixteenth century, seven of the important shrines (saptadevalaya) came into existence but at least two of these – Madanmohan and Govindadev were already centers of high reverence and only big temple structures were provided to these two already existing shrines. This paper emphasizes the importance of Vrindavan as one of the most prominent Hindu centers much before the arrival of Vallabha and Chaitanya by analyzing all the archaeological findings from the town. Keywords: Vrindavan, Sculptures, Madanmohan Temple, Archaeological Mound, Bodhisattva, Buddha, Vishnu Introduction Vrindavan, situated 8 km north of Mathura and about 130 km south of Delhi along the River Yamuna is one of the most sacred towns in India. Generally, in archaeological terms Vrindavan forms part of Mathura region (or the Braj) and is not separately dealt with. In spite of the fact that various Puranas including Harivamsa, Vishnu, Matsya, Srimadbhagavata, Varaha etc. refer to Vrindavana while mentioning the episodes of the life of child Krishna and at present, the town is considered even more sacred than Mathura, a holistic study of the nature of Vrindavan as an archaeological settlement has somehow not been given due importance. Vrindavana of the Puranas appears to be a quite wider area of sacred grove or forest lying between the River Yamuna and the Govardhana hill. It is difficult to confirm the existence of a town like settlement as the modern day Vrindavan in those days. The view of some scholars that the original Vrindavana was situated at Parsauli near Govardhan does not make much sense since there must have been some prevailing tradition for considering the modern settlement