A working bathing ghat
Yamuna
Vishram Ghat, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh
Krishna's own river
Vishram, rest. The ghat at which Mathura's parikrama of its own ghats begins and ends.
- River
- Yamuna
- Ghat
- Vishram Ghat
- Place
- Mathura, Uttar Pradesh
- Form of the water
- A working bathing ghat
- Local time
- Asia/Kolkata
Before you choose this water
The Yamuna at Mathura carries a heavy pollution load for much of the year. Through the dry months a large share of what passes the ghat is regulated release and drain water rather than mountain flow. If you are going there to bathe, know that beforehand and ask locally on the day.
The place
Vishram Ghat takes its name from vishram, rest. The tradition of Braj is that Krishna rested here after killing Kansa. It is the central ghat of Mathura, and the parikrama of the town's ghats begins and returns here. The aarti at dusk is smaller and more domestic than at Haridwar, and belongs to the town.
In the Braj tradition the Yamuna is Krishna's own river, the water he played in and the gopis carried. It is addressed with the affection due to someone loved, and the rites kept at this ghat carry that register.
The Yamuna is also the daughter of Surya and the sister of Yama. That is why Yama Dwitiya, the second day after Diwali, which much of India keeps as Bhai Dooj, is the great day here. Brothers and sisters bathe together at this ghat, following the tradition that Yama came to his sister's house that day and was received by her.
Mathura's riverfront runs to some twenty-five ghats, and the parikrama takes them in order, with Vishram first and last. The river that reaches them has come a long way from Yamunotri and through a great deal of engineering. Upstream of Mathura it is regulated at Hathnikund, Wazirabad and Okhla, where much of it is drawn off for canals and for Delhi. In a dry month what arrives at the ghat is largely what those gates release.
Where the figures come from
One number, taken the same way at all six waters.
The cell this site reads for Mathura sits on the Yamuna main stem below Vishram Ghat. The modelled figure behaves less like a mountain river and more like a set of gates, because upstream of here it is one. It is ranked against the Yamuna's own record for this week of the year, 1997 to 2025.
Where the figures come from
Flow is modelled river discharge from the Copernicus Emergency Management Service global flood model, read at the grid cell covering this reach and published once a day. It is a model rather than a gauge reading, and this site writes modelled beside every number it prints.
Each value is ranked against every daily value that same cell has produced in this same week of the year from 1997 to 2025. That is what the percentile means: one water compared with its own past.
Sunrise, sunset, air temperature and rainfall are read at the ghat's own coordinates rather than at the grid cell. The muhurat windows are the panchang's rules worked out from that sunrise.
Every figure comes from a public source named beside it, and each can be checked against that source.
Attribution
- River discharge: Copernicus Emergency Management Service, GloFAS, served by Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
- Sun and weather: Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0.
What you find here
The same four things at every water on this site.
- The river's flowModelled discharge for this reach, in cubic metres a second, ranked against 1997 to 2025 for this same week of the year.
- The sunriseSunrise and sunset at this ghat's own coordinates, which is why they differ from every other ghat's.
- The muhurat windowsBrahma, pratah, abhijit and godhuli, worked out from that sunrise rather than copied from a national table.
- The snanThree minutes with this water at the state it is in, at an hour the panchang names, with your own sankalp in your own words.
What this water is kept for
What people do when they stand at this water. Some of it is centuries older than any of the words on this site.
The dip at Vishram Ghat
Taken from the steps, most heavily on Yama Dwitiya and through Kartik. Read the note above about the water before you plan one.
Done by the person at the water
The parikrama of the ghats
The round of Mathura's riverfront, taken on foot in order, beginning and ending at Vishram.
Done by the person at the water
Yamuna puja in the Braj register
The upachara sequence offered to the river as to someone loved. Braj keeps its own words for it.
Done by the person at the water
The evening aarti
Run at the ghat by a local samiti at dusk. Smaller than Haridwar's and mostly attended by the town itself.
Kept by the place itself
Deep daan
Leaf and cotton, no plastic. Lit, named, and set on the water at the ghat's edge.
Done by the person at the water
Days this ghat is known for
Each is reckoned by tithi or by the sun, as noted beside it. Dates are not printed yet: the parva day depends on a panchang, and the site has still to choose the one it will follow.
Timing to be confirmed against the panchang
Yama Dwitiya
The largest day at this ghat, brothers and sisters bathe here together.
Dwitiya of the bright half of Kartik
Yamuna Jayanti
Kept in Braj as the river's own day, with its puja at the ghats.
Shashthi of the bright half of Chaitra
Janmashtami
Mathura's own festival; the ghats are worked through the night.
Ashtami of the dark half of Bhadrapada
Kartik snan
A month of dawn bathing kept across the Braj towns, not only in Mathura.
Through the month of Kartik
Who looks after this water
Vishram Ghat is looked after by Mathura's tirth-purohit families together with the municipal body, and the evening aarti is run by a local samiti.