Dr. Surbhi Pandey, ICHR Fellow and historian at Nehru College Delhi, takes us inside the living devotional world of Vrindavan — a world held together not by kings or texts, but by women drawing alpana at 3 a.m. and weeping as their autos wait to take them home.

Grounded in her fieldwork during the month of Kartik, Pandey traces how women pilgrims — many leaving their villages for the first time — undergo extraordinary personal transformation through daily rituals, communal worship, and the making of alpana floor art. Caste and social identity dissolve entirely in Vrindavan’s sacred space, where all women become Sakhis. She applies Victor Turner’s theory of communitas to this phenomenon, while arguing that Indian pilgrimage had already embodied this principle for centuries. The conversation reaches its philosophical peak in the retelling of Meera Bai’s devastating reply to Jiv Goswami: “I was not even aware that any man other than Lord Krishna dwells in Vrindavan.”

Pandey also unpacks Vrindavan’s 18th and 19th century history — how devotional life persisted through Mughal decline, Abdali’s raids, and British colonialism — and closes with a call to scholars: the true history of India lives not in dynasties but in the unbroken inner life of its people.

About the Speakers:
Vikas Sharma is the presenter at the YouTube channel “The Quest”. He is also a teacher at the Haryana School Education Department and has written a collection of poems “From LOVE to Protection”.

Dr. Surabhi Pandey serves as a faculty member in the Department of History at Kamala Nehru College. She earned her doctorate in History from the School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi, with her PhD thesis delving into the religious landscape of Braj during the 18th and 19th centuries. Her academic interests focus on early modern Indian religious history, the study of sacred spaces, and the religio-political dynamics of Braj. She has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences and has actively engaged in public history by leading heritage walks that explore the rich historical and cultural tapestry of Braj.