Imli Tala
Vrndavan, Braj Mandal, Uttar Pradesh (UP) India

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There is a tamarind tree here said to date back to Lord Krishna’s time, 5,000 years ago. Imli Tala means “tamarind tree.” Imli means “tamarind” and tala means “tree.” According to some people the original tree is now dead. The substitute tree is also very old.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu would come daily to Imli Tala to chant japa, when He stayed in Vrindavana. There is a small temple here with Gaura Nitai and Radha Krishna Deities. When Lord Caitanya came here, Imli Tala was on the bank of the Yamuna. Now the Yamuna has moved about a quarter of a km away. When He came here almost no people lived in the present town of Vrindavana. It was just forest.

There is one story about this tree that says that Radharani cursed it. One day She was walking to meet Krishna. She then stepped on the thick bark of a ripe tamarind fruit and it cut her foot. This slowed her down from meeting Krishna, so She cursed the tree that its fruits would not ripen, because the bark of the unripe tamarind fruits are soft and can not hurt the feet. Even today the fruits of this tree fall down before becoming totally ripened.

Krishna would come here and because of ecstatic feelings of separation from Radharani, His blackest body would turn golden. When Lord Caitanya would come here, when He would meditate on Krishna, sometimes because of ecstatic feelings, His golden body would turn blackish.

“After bathing in Kesi-tirtha, Krishnadasa went towards Kaliya-daha and suddenly saw Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu sitting at Imli-tala. Upon seeing the Lord’s personal beauty and ecstatic love, Krishnadasa was very much astonished. Out of ecstatic love, he offered his respectful obeisances unto the Lord. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu then bestowed upon Krishnadasa His causeless mercy by embracing him. Krishnadasa became mad with ecstatic love and began to dance and chant the holy name of Hari. (Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya 18.83-88). Later, Krishnadasa Rajput protected Sri Caitanya from a band of Mughal soldiers.

At this place is a Gaudiya Matha temple established by Bhaktisaranga Maharaja, a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Maharaja. His Holiness Bhaktisaranga Maharaja’s samadhi is by the tree here.

A festival is held here on the full moon day of Karttika, which is believed to be the day that Sri Caitanya arrived in Vrindavana. On this day the tree is worshipped.

How To Get Here To get to this place from the Radha Damodara temple, if you just came out of the temple you make a right and walk about 50m (150 feet). You then take the road that bears off to the right and walk about 30m (100 feet) towards Seva Kunja. You then take the road that goes to the right and walk until the road ends in about a minute. Where you enter the doorway here it looks like someone’s house directly in front of you. There is a swing door to keep animals out. You then walk through the courtyard and the temple is on your left.

If you are doing Vrindavana parikrama, Imli Tala is right next to the path, about a km (15 minutes walk) past the Madana-Mohan temple. From the outside it is a little difficult to tell that there is a temple here. Over the temple wall is a yellow sign (1m by 7m) with Hindi lettering. You can see the tree through the metal gate. If you reach the place where the path becomes very thin (1m wide), then you passed Imli Tala by about 100m (300 ft).

Temple Timings Darshan: 5.30 am to 12 noon and 4 to 8 pm for the temple. The Imli Tala tree can be viewed all day.

Copyright ©2001 John Howley and Spiritual Guides