Goswami Shri Aniruddhlalji (Surat

As you all know we are Hindus.If we trace the history of Hinduism it goes back thousands of years. In fact it is the oldest religion on earth.People throughout the whole of Asia were impressed by the Hindu faith and its followers panned from Turkey in the west to Vietnam in the east.

As the years passed by, different people from different geographical areas read, reinvented and taught the rules of Hinduism according to the needs of the time and place but they stayed within the limits of what was called Hindu religion.These specified, localized and reinvented set of rules were called a sect.This developing a sect was not an easy task and it certainly was not a common man's cup of tea.Learned,gifted people like Shankaracharya,Ramanuja,
Madhavacharya,Nimbarkacharya and Vallabhacharyaji have so far been successful in developing a sect. Vallabhacharyaji named His sect as Pushtimarg.We,as followers of Vallabhacharyaji follow the rules of Pushtimarg. Let us know a brief history of Pushtimarg.

1478-1500

The propogator of Pushtimarg,Shri Vallabhcharyaji were born in !478 in a south Indian Brahmin's family. He was not an ordinary child and learned all the Vedas,Puranas at the tender age of 10.When He was just 13, He left His family and decided to tour the country and meet and teach people the philosophy He had thought of.In A.D.1491, learned pandits from all over India had gathered in a seminar on religion.13-year-old Vallabh reached there and debated for 27 days with pandits and put forward His views.The pandits were so awed at the intelligence of the child that they gave Him the title of 'Acharya' and thus Vallabh became Vallabhacharyaji.

His philosophy was called 'Shudhhadwaita' and the sect was named 'Pushtimarg'. Then in 1493 Lord Shrinathji asked Vallabhacharyaji to build a temple for Him on Mount Goverdhan.He also gave Vallabhacharyaji a sanskrit 'mantra' by which 'Brahmsambandh Deeksha' could be given to a person.Whoever took Brahmsambandh,became a 'vaishnav' and was eligible to do Shrinathji's seva. He asked Vallabhacharyaji to give this mantra to as many people as He could and make as many vaishnavs as He could..

So Vallabhacharyaji gave the first brahmsambandh to Damodardas Harsani and gradually more and more people started becoming a 'vaishnav'.
Moreover Shrinathji told Vallabhcharyaji that from now He(Shrinathji) would be the center of faith for all the Pushtimargiya Vaishnavs.So from that day,vaishnavs had a God to serve--Shrinathji,a Guru to obey--Vallabhacharyaji and a philosophy to follow--Pushtimarg.Thus during the last decade of this century,the number of followers increased gradually.But the nature of the sect was simple,small-scale and it was in its primitive years.Literature like Yamunashtakam and Madhurashtakam was written in the last decade of this century

1500-1600

As Vallabhacharyaji travelled throughout India,His followers increased and He asked all of them to do the 'seva' of Shrinathji. Even Kings of the Lodi dynasty who ruled Delhi were impressed by Vallabhacharyaji.As people realised that Vallabhcharyaji was no common man and Shrinathji talked and walked with all the vaishnavs,their dedication,love and knowledge for Pushtimarg increased..

A book called '84 vaishnav-ki-varta' consists of stories of 84 such vaishnavs of Vallabhcharyaji.Inorder to help His followers know the philosophy and develop the right type of Love for Shrinathji, Vallabhcharyaji prepared a tremendous literature base which acted as an instruction manual to deal with Shrinathji as well as the various situations of life which a vaishnav might have to face.
In 1510 Thakurji asked Vallabhcharyaji to marry so He married a girl named Mahalaxmi.He had two sons from the marriage--Gopinathji(b.1511) and Vitthalnathji(b.1515).

Now as Vallabhcharyaji became a family man, He settled in Adel(near Allahabad) and taught His children Thakurji's seva.Meanwhile He kept increasing His literature base and wrote Subodhiniji,Anu-Bhashya,Nirodhlakshan,Sevafal and many other essays. In 1530,Vallabhacharyaji left this earth at His own will but He had successfully built a sect whose followers were staunchly devoted to Shrinathji and His family .

He came up with a system of living which if followed resulted in a happy and satisfied life. He was instrumental in changing the people's outlook for religion at that time.He surely sanitised religion and plucked away its evils like untouchability,discrimination against women and sacrifice of animals. After Vallabhacharyaji, the seva of Shrinathji as well as the responsibility of the sect fell on the shoulders of His elder son, Shri Gopinathji.

But unfortunately Gopinathji was short-lived and thus the responsibility of the sect came on Vitthalnathji,the younger son of Vallabhacharyaji.Vitthalnathji was just 15 when Vallabhacharyaji left the earth.

So learned vaishnavs like Damodardas Harsani and Kanhaiya Shaal taught Vitthalnathji the basic principles of Pushtimarg.They helped Him realise the great work His father had left behind.Vitthalnathji was so impressed with His father's endevour that He wrote 'Sarvottam-stotr' depicting the various qualities Vallabhacharyaji. As Vitthalnathji grew, He turned out to be a perfect person to head the sect.Maturity made Him a good administrator, a man of arts, a family man who could understand the needs of the children as well as the women,a learned Guru on whom the vaishnavs could rely and above all,a humble devotee of Shrinathji.

With all these qualities by His side and above all the 'krupa' of Shrinathji,Vitthalnathji was bound to become a famous person. The era of Vitthalnathji or Gusainji,as He is fondly known is called the Golden Age of Pushtimarg.It was during this period that people from all walks of life embraced Pushtimarg.Gusainji was instrumental in spreading Pustimarg in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

He travelled no less than six times to Gujarat to spread Pushtimarg.It is said that such was His aura that 27 out of the major 56 Kings of India of that time, were vaishnavs.Even Akbar the emperor of India liked Gusainji and was a regular visitor at Shrinathji's temple. His wives(Taj Bibi and Jodhabai), ministers (Birbal and Todarmal) and artists(Tansen the musician) had taken brahmsambandh from Gusainji.

The seva of Shrinathji which was simple in Vallabhacharyaji's times was elaborated and enriched with precious stones,rich clothes,enchanting music and good samagri(food) offered to Thakurji.The first big festival of Pushtimarg--"The Chhappan Bhog" was done by Gusainji in 15__.

He had so much love for Shrinathji that Shrinathji used to literally talk with Him.So much so that He(Shrinathji) used to call him 'Kakaji'(uncle). Inorder to please Shrinathji,He asked 8 vaishnavs to sing 'kirtan' daily in front of Thakurji.These 8 vaishnavs went on to become Shrinathji's friends and today they are called Ashta-Sakha( 8 friends).Shri Gusainji got seven important swaroops(images) of Thakurji apart from the swaroop of Shrinathji.

In 1583 Shri Gusainji distributed these seven Thakurjis among His seven sons and told them to settle wherever they wanted to. Another thing which Shri Gusainji did was to settle in Gokul. Infact it was Gusainji who established and developed Gokul on the land gifted by the emperor Akbar. Actually it was the wish of Vallabhcharyaji to establish Gokul at the very place it is today. In those days Gokul was not at the place it should be.Some people had misguided the masses and a place called Mahaavan(about 5 miles from original Gokul) was regarded as Gokul.Vallabhcharaji wanted people to stop worshipping that Gokul and start coming to the original Gokul.

ShriYamunaji had shown Him the actual place where Lord Krishna lived with Nandraiji and Yashodaji.So He had told His son Gusainji to develop the exact place where Lord Krishna lived. Inorder to fulfill His father's wish, Gusainji demanded that very piece of land from Akbar,the emepror and He gifted it because He respected Gusainji.

Later on,Gusainji built a large haveli where the seva of Navnitpriyaji(in Nathdwara today) was done.The glory of Gokul was at its peak inthe 1570's and1580's when all 7 sons of Gusainji were there in Thakurji's seva and dedicated vaishnav-kings visiting Gokul alongwith staunch followers of Pushtimarg living permanently in Gokul and having faith in Gusainji.

The duo of Shrinathji and Shri Gusainji had such a great magnetic effect that even Akbar found hard to resist.Everybody was Gokul-bound in the era of Gusainji.But this era ended in 1585 when Gusainji entered a cave in Mount Goverdhan,never to come out again.He lived for 70 years.He left behind 7 sons and an un-fillable vacuum.The impact of Gusainji's departure was such that 3 vaishnavs lost their lives when they heard of this tragedy.Girdharji,the eldest of the 7 sons took over the reigns of Pushtimarg after Gusainji.

1600-1700

Girdharji,the eldest son of Gusainji was a calm,caring,dignified and introvert person who would rarely go out-of-the-way to acheive anything.He believed in doing just what he was supposed to do.He was not dynamic,artistic or a strong-willed person like His father. But His greatest asset was His love for Shrinathji. Infact it seems He was Shrinathji's favourite among the seven sons of Gusainji.Due to His simplicity people called Him 'Yati' which means a saint.The village of Gopalpur which is in the valley of Mt.Goverdhan was named after Him and was called 'Jatipura'(from the word 'Yati').Shrinathji had once told Gusainji that in the future,His seva be entrusted to children of Girdharji only.So even today the Tilkayat Maharajshri who is the Head Acharya of the Nathdwara Temple is the direct descendant of Girdharji.
The first quarter of the 17th century saw the demise of all the remaining Ashta-sakhas.In other words,Pushtimarg was losing people who were on the same wavelength as Shrinathji.Vaishnavs with whom Shrinathji used to literally talk had come of age and were leaving the earth.Vaishnav stalwarts like Chacha Harivanshji,Gajjan Dhaawan and Roopa died during these years.It certainly must not been a good feeling for the 7 sons of Gusainji.This was so because the new breed of vaishnavs was not as deep-rooted,knowlegeable or humble as the vaishnavs of Gusainji.But still they stuck to what they were supposed to do--The seva of Shrinathji and the respective 7 swaroops which their father,Gusainji had entrusted to each of them.All the 7 sons had 7 diffirent houses in Gokul.Even today,these houses stand and are called 'bethaks of 7 sons of Gusainji'.Their family was called by the name-- 'Vallabh-kul' which meant 'Sons of Vallabhacharyaji'.Whoever was born in the family of Vallabhacharyaji was called a 'Vallabh-kul Acharya'.
Once the 7 sons settled down in Gokul,they turned their attention to writing explanatory essays on the literature their grandfather(Vallabhacharyaji) and father(Gusainji) had written.Their essays greatly helped the vaishnavs in understanding Vallabhacharyaji and Gusainji's writings.These insight-giving essays where called 'tikas'.Together they wrote 'tikas' on all major literary works like 'Yamunashtak','Nav-Ratna' and 'Sarvottamstotr'.During this time the fifth son of Gusainji,Raghunathji wrote 'Naam-ratnakhya-stotr' in memory of His father.It was similar in fashion to 'Sarvottam-stotr' which Gusainji had written for His father Shri Vallabhcharyaji.Writing a 'stotr' in the memory of the late father became a tradition in Vallabhkul.Gokulnathji,the fourth son once thought the stories of His Grandfather's and Father's vaishnavs where good examples of religiousness and need to be passed on to future generations of Vallabhkul Acharyas and vaishnavs.Till that time,these stories were circulating among the vaishnavs by word of mouth only.So He wrote down these stories in a book and their accumalation was called '84-vaishnav-ki-vaarta'(Vallabhcharyaji's vaishnavs) and '252-vaishnav-ki-vaarta'(Gusainji's vaishnavs).This forsightedness of Gokulnathji is paying off today as vaishnavs all over the globe read these two sacred books in their homes daily and get to know authentically how the vaishnavs of Vallabhcharyaji's era lived.
The 7 sons had divine love for the Thakurji-swaroop given by their father Gusainji.Once in 1617 somebody stole the Thakurji of Ghanshyamji,the seventh son.On this He did not eat food or drink water for seven days.It is said that He passed away on the seventh day just because He could not bear the seperation from His Thakurji.
The year 1617 also brought a wild jerk for Pushtimarg when the Mughal emperor Jehangir(son of Akbar the great) ordered all vaishnavs to not to wear any 'kanthi' in the neck and do 'tilak' of any kind on the forhead.He was an anti-Hindu emperor who wanted everybody to embrace Islam.Now this order created quite an unheavel among the vaishnavs because not wearing a 'kanthi' and not doing the 'tilak' was certainly unacceptible to them.This certainly was a sacrilege.Every where from Mathura and Gokul to Ujjain and Varanasi, there were protests and complaints regarding the new order.But the emperor too seemed adamant and just stuck to what he had said.He made it clear that whoever going against this law would be hanged.Then Gokulnathji,the fourth son of Gusainji decided to hold talks with Jehangir but he was in Kashmir at that time.So Gokulnathji,without a second thought travelled to Kashmir which is among the Himalayan Mountains.Inorder to persuade the emperor to withdraw the sacrilegous law,He met him daily for 2 months and explained the importance of 'Kanthi' and 'Tilak' in Pushtimarg.In the end,Jehangir was convinced and withdrew the law.As this news reached Gokul,there were celebrations and processions everywhere.When Gokulnathji returned to Gokul,He was hailed,respected and loved by Vallabh-kul Acharyas and vaishnavs.This way,a big hurdle in the way of Pushtimarg was cleared by the efforts of Gokulnathji.Surely,if Gokulnathji had not convinced the emperor,Pushtimarg would have been extinct by now.
This period also saw the growing up of the grandchildren of Gusainji.They turned out to be a dedicated,loving and religious lot who had great respect for their forefathers and loved the seva of Shrinathji more than anything.Their bent for seva can be gauged from one incident when Kalyanraiji,the son of second son Govindraiji refused to sit in the ritual of His own wedding because its time was clashing with the time of Shrinathji's seva.He sat in the ritual only after doing Shrinathji's seva.Hariraiji,the great Acharya who wrote '42 Shikshapatra' grew up as a child of Kalyanraiji.
As the grandchildren of Gusainji increased,the need to develop new Havelis where they could settle down,increased.As Gujarat was considered peaceful,the first Haveli was built in Ahmedabad around 1619.This Haveli (The Dwarkadhish Haveli in Bauva-ni-Pol area of Ahmedabad city) was the first haveli to be built outside Vraj.Later on,it played a substantial role in spreading Vaishnavism in Gujarat.
In 1620,Girdharji the eldest of the seven sons left for the heavenly abode.His death was not normal and He did 'Leela' by entering a cave(kandaraa) of Girirajji just opposite Mukharvind at Jatipura.The seva of Shrinathji was passed on to His second son Shri Damodarji.The absence of the eldest brother was not felt because Gokulnathji,the fourth brother had matured enough to lead the whole family and the disciples.He broadened His disciple-base so much so that when He passed away in 1640, 78 vaishnavs from around India died when they heard that Gokulnathji was no more.Such was the intensity of love for Vallabh-Kul Acharyas.The departing of Gokulnathji brought problems from many corners.Firstly,there was no one of Gokulnathji's stature to lead the Sampraday and understand Shrinathji.Secondly,the Mughal emperors who had a soft corner for Pushtimarg during Gusainji's period turned hostile and anti-Hindu after 1650.Aurangzeb in particular was interested in destroying Hindu temples.He had destroyed the temples of Ayodhya,Mathura,Kashi and now wanted to demolish Shrinathji's temple on Mt. Goverdhan.News of this threat reached Mt.Goverdhan and the Acharyas who were still young did not have a clue on what should be done.At this time Hariraiji who was in the 5th generation from Vallabhcharyaji intervened and adviced that Shrinathji be shifted to Gujarat because Agra(the Mughal capital) was too near(40 miles) to be ignored.So in 1669 Shrinathji left Mount Goverdhan forever for Gujarat.The group was pretty big with all the Vallabhkul-Acharyas,their family,servants,vaishnavs and cows.The group travelled in the south west direction via the cities of Agra,Gwalior,Kota,Kishangarh and Jodhpur.The progress was slow because Shrinathji was with them and whenever an utsav came,the group stayed at one place for a month or a two.After about 600 miles and an year and a half, they reached a village named Sinhad in Mewar.The chariot of Shrinathji got stuck in this village and it would not budge.Servants and others tried hard but it did not move an inch.The Vallabhkul Acharya realised that this was some 'Leela' of Shrinathji.They asked Him and Shrinathji ordered that He did not want to go to Gujarat but instead wanted His temple to be built at the very spot they were.The Vallabhkul Acharyas agreed on this and a temple was built hurriedly and Shrinathji thus made Sinhad(now called Nathdwara) His home.This was not before 1671.So after 178 years,the seva of Shrinathji shifted from Mt.Goverdhan to Nathdwara.As the events unfolded it seems that Hariraiji,who was a mature.learned and capable Acharya became the father-figure of Pushtimarg at that time and it was under His guidance that Shrinathji settled in Nathdwara.The vaccuum created by Gokulnathji's departure was filled by Haririaji.
Nothing substantial happened in the years after 1671 till the turn of the century.The years were passed in getting to terms with the new place and building the temple according to the needs of Shrinathji.

1700-1800

Before the century began,nearly all the other important images of the sect had been removed from Vraj,one after the other,and shifted to other places.Soon after,the deserted temple on Mt.Goverdhan was demolished by the Mughal army and its ruins can be seen even today.
As Nathdwara was in Rajasthan state where all the major Kings of India lived,they got a chance to come near Shrinathji.This century saw all the major kings accepting Shrinathji as their deity.Shrinathji's magnetism was such that within no time the rulers of Udaipur,Kishangarh,Bikaner,Kota and Jaipur became vaishnavs and started visiting Nathdwara regularly.With so many Kings as their disciples,political peace descedend upon Nathdwara because all the Kings wanted to protect their beloved Shrinathji.So it is during this period that the 'Pichhwai' tradition developed.The Vallabhkul-Acharayas patronised various painters who painted Pichhwais of various utsavs like Annakuta,Janamashtami,Holi,etc.As the riches of Nathdwara increased,Pichhwais were getting painted on precious clothes with liquid gold being used as ink.Various other artistic activities too developed during this period.
In 1716 Hariraiji passed away in Khimnor(20 miles from Nathdwara) at the age of 125.He was a scholar with 200 books to His credit.It is said that He knew before-hand that Shrinathji would leave Vraj and settle in Nathdwara in 1669 so He set-up base prior to that in Khimnor.When the living legend passed away He had left an incalculable influence on the sect.
In 1740,the first 'Saat Swaroop Utsav' was done in Nathdwara by gathering the seven swaroops which once used to reside in Vraj.As the swaroops were shifted to various places due to the Mughal invasion in 1670,the then Tilakayat Govardhaneshji thought of bringing them together(temporarily) once again in Nathdwara.A 'Chhappan Bhog' too was organised on this occasion which was successfully organised and well-attended by all the Kings and various vaishnavs.
Till this time Pushtimarg had spread to other parts of Gujarat and Havelis were built in Surat,Patan and some other places.As Vallabhkul-Acharyas started travelling to other parts of Gujarat,people were embracing vaishnavism and till the turn of the century,it reached the Saurashtra peninsula.
All the present Vallabhkul Acharyas' love and dedication for Shrinathji was in-line with what Vallabhcharyaji had prescribed.Shrinathji too reverted back their devotion.One incident shows the divine relation of Shrinathji and Vallabhkul.Once after Rajbhog darshan,Goverdhaneshji,the then Tilkayat could not find his younger brother Govindji in the haveli.He sent servants everywhere to find the missing younger brother,but the search proved fruitless.As He laid down to rest without eating,Shrinathji appeared to Him in a vivid vision and told that "Do not worry,Govind is safe and is sleeping in my 'shaiyya-mandir'(bed-chamber)".On this Goverdhaneshji hastened to the bed-chamber and found the vision to be true.
Before the turn of the century,The Natwarlal-Shyamlal haveli was established in Ahmedabad in Doshiwada-ni-Pol around 1795 A.D.The haveli's Mahrashri,Shri Gopinathji once meditated hard and attained 'gyan'.On this He lit a lamp and ordered His disciples to let the lamp glow forever.So even today,after more than 200 years,the lamp is still glowing with vaishnavs donating ghee as its fuel.Vaishnavs from all over come to the darshan of this 'akhand-deepak'.

1800-1900

The nineteenth century began on a sour note with Nathdwara being attacked by the King of Indore in 1802 A.D.The temple's riches had increased so much that faraway marauders thought of looting it.The attack forced the then Tilakayat Shri Girdharji, to move the images of Shrinathji,Navnitpriyaji and Vitthalnathji to Udaipur where they stayed for six months under the protection of the King of Udaipur.The images were moved to Ghasiar(about 15 miles) where a temple similar to the one in Nathdwara had been built.The seva of Shrinathji and other images was done in Ghasiar till 1808 A.D.With an improvement in the political situation,the images were brought to Nathdwara after a gap of 6 years.The temple at Ghasiar still stands today and the architectural resemblence with Nathdwara is not easy to miss.

As Tilkayat Shri Girdharji passed away around the same time,His son Damodarji became the Tilkayat at the age of 10.Damodarji turned out to be a good Tilkayat and the first things he did after the attack was to build a fortified wall around Nathdwara and build Nathdwara's own army.The market which we see today in Nathdwara was built by Damordarji.Besides that he built the Nathuvas Gaushala which could accomodate 4000 cows (2miles from Nathdwara) and most important among all,the Lalbaug.It was during this time that the tradition of taking the 'Dhwajaji of Shrinathji' to various cities started with Shrinathji Himself asking Damodarji to do so.

Looking out of Nathdwara,Vaishnavism reached Mumbai with Mota Mandir being constructed during the begining of the nineteenth century in the Bhuleshwar area of the flourishing city.As the city developed under the British,many Gujarati traders settled there followed subsequently by many Vallabhkul Acharyas.They brought along their Thakurji and within no time there were no less than thirteen havelis in the Bhuleshwar area of the old city.Vaishnavism,it seemed was the main religion of the Gujaratis of Mumbai.

This was the time when Gujarat and Mumbai's influence on Vaishnavism seemed to overrule Vraj's influence.Literature too was written in Gujarati and vaishnav poets like Dayarambhai came up and tried teaching the philosophy of Vallabhcharyaji in their mother tongue.

In 1857 A.D. the British dethroned all the Kings and became The sovereign power of India.The Kings became mere puppets in the hands of the British so they could not do the seva of Shrinathji as they would have wished to do.Just at the time when the sect was losing its important disciples in the form of the Kings,independent Gujarati vaishnav traders came up to support the seva of Shrinathji and various other havelis.The disciple-base,it seemed shifted and became decentralised.

The invention of the print around 1860 A.D.gave Vaishnavism good mileage.Infact the first religious book to be printed in India was a vaishnav book.With scores of hand-written books compiled by Vallabhkul Acharyas and vaishnavs over the years,matter to be printed in the books was never short.The result of the invention of print was that good libraries came up in Nathdwara,Kankroli,Kamvan,Nadiad and Mumbai in the latter half of the century.The libraries are still there with each having more 15000 books in their shelves.As people started learning the English language due to the British rule,vaishnavs like Mulchand Teliwala came up and translated the works of Vallabhacharyaji in english.

In Nathdwara,Tilkayat Shri Girdharji constructed the Moti Mahal in 1861 A.D.
It was in the latter half of the century that constructing and rebuilding of the majority of the 84 bethaks of Vallabhcharyaji started.Although the bethaks where there since the last five centuries,they lacked the basic requirements for the seva of Vallabhcharayji to be done,leave alone facilities for vaishnavs.As the importance of the bethaks was realised,land around them was purchased and a systematic seva was started.Even the land around Champaranya bethak was purchased by ShriDevakinandacharyaji Maharashri(Kamvan) and Shri Narsinhlalji Mahrasjshri(Amreli) around the 1890s.Prior to that vaishnavs knew on paper that Vallabhacharyaji was born in the jungles of Champaranya,but nobody knew the exact spot.It was these two Maharajshri who showed the exact spot(it is said that Vallabhcharayaji appeared in their dreams and showed them the exact spot.).

Before the turn of the century Vaishnavism had reached places like Calcutta,Cochin and Madras with havelis being built there.Till this time,quite a few monthly vaishnav magazines were being published from Mumbai,Ahmedabad and Rajkot.This was possible due to the establishment of the postal service.

1900-Today

One vaishnav magazine proclaimed that there were 33 Vallabhkul Acharyas living on this planet at that time(1900-1910).The 1920s saw the advent of electricity in urban homes.Initially Vallbhkul Acharyas were reluctant in taking electricity to the Haveli sanctorum.They agreed on installing but their condition was that only the bulb or fan may be inside the sanctorum,their switches have to in the outer rooms,operated by people not in 'apras'.
The year 1947 A.D. was an year of upheavel with India gaining independence from the British rule.As the country was partitioned into Hindu and Muslim states of India and Pakistan respectively,there was large-scale migration of Hindus from Pakistan.

Among the Hindus were vaishnavs of bhatia,sindhi and lohana community.Infact,at the time of partition there were 5 vaishnav havelis in what is now Pakistan.The towns having vaishnav havelis were Bahawalpur,Multan,Dera-Ismail-Khan(2 havelis) and Nagar Thattha.During the riots and the melee,the vaishnavs could not bring the Havelis but somehow managed to bring their Thakurji to India and today the Dera-Ismail-Khan Thakurji are in the Delhi Haveli.The Nagar Thattha Thakurji are in Mumbai Haveli(chembur) and the Multan Thakurji are in the Muzzafarnagar Haveli(100 miles north of Delhi).

The year 1949 A.D. saw Murlidharji Maharajshri(of Borivali Haveli) visiting Africa for the first time.His visit to Aden was widely criticised by fellow Vallabhkul Acharyas and vaishnavs because crossing the sea was forbidden in Hindu religion.The first vaishnav havelis to come up outside India were the ones in Aden and Zanzibar.These havelis were subsequently shut down due to the unstable political situation in the 1970s.
Meanwhile in Nathdwara,as the flow of devotees increased in the temple,
The Rajasthan Government intervened in the management of the Shrinathji temple and formed the Temple Board around 1960 A.D.The temple which was run privately till then by the Tilkayat Maharajshri had to be merged in the Temple Board.Most of the vaishnavs did not like this Government intervention and there followed a litigation which resulted in the core seva of Shrinathji being returned to Tilkayat.The rest of the temple and its properties were to be managed by the Government.To mark the legal victory,the then Tilkayat Shri Govindlalji organised a 'Saat Swaroop Mahotsav' in 1966 A.D.Vaishnavs from all over the country spilled in Nathdwara and the flow of vaishnavs was such that the 'Chhappan Bhog' darshan had to be kept open for 18 hours.This utsav is widely regarded as the greatest vaishnav carnival in modern times.Over the years as the road,rail and air connectivity of Nathdwara increased,the inflow of the vaishnavs too increased with nearly 15000 vaishnavs visiting Nathdwara daily today.

As the Africa visit of Shri Murlidharji Maharajshri was looked down upon by most people in the sect,foreign travel was regarded as a strict no-no.It was not before 1985 A.D. that Vallabhkul Acharyas realised the need to visit modern countries like USA and UK.Their regular visits have resulted in havelis being built in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Houston, Toronto, San Francisco, Chicago, Phoenix, London and Nairobi(Kenya).
As the suburbs of Indian cities of Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot developed, vaishnavs started settling there.The last two decades of this century saw the construction of new Havelis in nearly all the major Indian cities inhabitated by vaishnavs.

Today as we march ahead in this age of computers,the 500 year-old-sect has accepted the medium of internet whole-heartedly and most information about Pushtimarg can be found on the net.Pushtimarg,the eternal sect has accepted the Blog as easily as it had accepted Painting some 300 years ago.As we are nearing the completion of the first decade of the 21st century,the mood of the sect is optimistic.With 1100 havelis across the globe,the 25 million strong Vaishnav community worldwide has more than 270 live Vallabhkul Acharyas to guide them in their lives as Gurus.They are trying their best to make vaishnavs understand Vallabhacharyaji's philosophy in today's fast age.

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