Transcendent Traces in a Pilgrimage Landscape: Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Re-visioning of Vraja

Abstract

The article "Transcendent Traces in a Pilgrimage Landscape: Rupa Gosvamin's Re-visioning of Vraja" by Barbara A Holdrege examines Rupa Gosvamin's pivotal role in transforming the geographic region of Vraja into a sacred pilgrimage landscape for the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. The author highlights Rupa's contributions to the "reclamation" of Vraja, including identifying and marking Krsna's lila-sthalas (sites of divine play) and composing the Mathura Mahatmya. This text reconfigures traditional pilgrimage literature to emphasize a Gaudiya vision of Vraja as a bimodal domain, functioning simultaneously as a physical place and a transcendent space. Holdrege analyzes Rupa's hierarchical taxonomy of pilgrimage fruits, which prioritizes bhakti (devotion) to Hari above liberation, and his ordering of pilgrimage networks, culminating in Radhakunda. The article also discusses how Rupa's works delineate practices for devotees to engage with Vraja on both earthly and transcosmic planes.