Agiyara Gaon
The village of Agiyara is situated two miles south-west of the village of Kasrata. It is located in the middle of Munjatavi, where Krishna used to take the cows to pasture.
Story
Once, Krishna was playing with the sakhas in the shade of Bhandirvat. Nearby, the cows drank water from the Yamuna and began to graze on the lush, green grass in the fields. In doing so, they gradually wandered off to Munjatavi some distance away. It was a summer day, and the scorching heat was drying up the munja [1] plants and baking the sand on the ground. The cows had roamed off without Krishna, and they now entered this munja forest, which was devoid of water and shade. This Munjatavi was so dense that they lost track of the path by which they had come. Overwhelmed with thirst and heat, the cows became restless.
In their search for the cows, the sakhas had also left Krishna and Balram and, entering Munjatavi, they too became agitated by thirst and heat. It was then that the followers of the wicked Kansa set Munjavan on fire. Within a moment, the wind had spread the fire everywhere, so that it surrounded the cows and the cowherd boys. Seeing no other means of escape, they began to cry out to Krishna and Baldev who heard their call and immediately went to them. "Close your eyes for just a moment," Krishna told them, and in that moment He swallowed the terrible forest fire. Upon opening their eyes, the sakhas saw that they were now standing with Krishna and Baldev in the cooling shade of Bhandirvat, the cows peacefully lying nearby chewing their cud. The jiva suffering in the forest fire of material existence can similarly be easily delivered from this suffering simply by taking shelter of Krishna. Another name for Munjatavi is Isikatavi. On the other side of the Yamuna is the village of Bhandir.
Tapovan
Tapovan is situated on the bank of the Yamuna one mile east of Akshayavat. Here, the young gopis prayed for the fulfilment of their desire to have Shri Krishna as their husband. It is said that in their previous birth, these gopis were the sages in the forest of Dandakaranya who were absorbed in austerities with the desire to attain Shri Krishna. By the mercy of Shri Ramchandra, in Dvapar Yug they took birth from the womb of gopis. The princesses of Janakpuri are also counted in this group. Like Sita, they had wanted to marry Shri Ramchandra, and therefore, by His mercy, they took birth as gopis in Braj at the end of Dvapar-Yug. This Tapovan is where these young gopis performed worship to attain Shri Krishna. Lalita, Vishakha and other eternally liberated gopis are direct bodily expansions (kaya-vyuha) of Radhika, Shri Krishna's internal energy; therefore, there is no need for them to perform any austerity.
Gopi-Ghat
This place is called Gopi-ghat because here the afore-mentioned gopis used to bathe in the Yamuna.
Chir-Ghat
This pastime place lies two miles west of Akshayavat. The young gopis had worshipped Katyayani-devi regularly for one month, observing all the vows to attain Shri Krishna as their husband.[2]
At the end of their vow, Shri Krishna, along with some priyanarma-sakhas stole the gopis clothes and gave them the benediction that their desire would be fulfilled. The temple of Katyayani-devi is situated here on the bank of the Yamuna. The present name of this village is Siyaro.