From the Memoirs of F.S. Growse – A British Civil Servant in India, 1874
“Of all the sacred places in India, none enjoys a greater popularity than the capital of Braj – the holy city of Mathura. For nine months in the year festival follows festival in rapid succession, and the ghats and temples are daily thronged with new troops of way-worn pilgrims. So great is the sanctity of the spot that panegyrists do not hesitate to declare that a single day spent in Mathura is more meritorious than a lifetime passed at Banaras.”
[ F.S. Growse, Mathura: A District Memoir, Chapter 3, published in 1874 ]