Mathura in the context of "History of Jainism"

Kanishka I, also known as Kanishka the Great, was an emperor of the Kushan dynasty, under whose reign (c. 127–150 CE) the empire reached its zenith. He is famous for his military, political, and spiritual achievements. A descendant of Kujula Kadphises, founder of the Kushan empire, Kanishka came to rule an empire extending from Central Asia and Gandhara to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plain. The main capital of his empire was located at Puruṣapura (Peshawar) in Gandhara, with another major capital at Mathura. Coins of Kanishka were found in Tripuri (present-day Jabalpur).

Although he never converted to the religion, his conquests and patronage of Buddhism played an important role in the development of the Silk Road, and in the transmission of Mahayana Buddhism from Gandhara across the Karakoram range to China. Around 127 CE, he replaced Greek with Bactrian as the official language of administration in the empire.

The Bhagavata (/ˈbɑːɡəˌvɑːtə/; Sanskrit: भागवत, IAST: Bhāgavata [bʱɑ́ːɡɐʋɐtɐ]) tradition, also called Bhagavatism (/ˌbɑːɡəˈvɑːtɪz(ə)m/), is an ancient religious sect that traced its origin to the region of Mathura. After its syncretism with the Brahmanical tradition of Vishnu, Bhagavatism became a pan-Indian tradition by the second century BCE, according to R.C. Majumdar.

Historically, Bhagavatism corresponds to the development of a popular theistic movement in India, departing from the elitist sacrificial rites of Vedism, and initially focusing on the worship of the Vrishni hero Vāsudeva in the region of Mathura. It later assimilated into the concept of Narayana where Krishna is conceived as svayam bhagavan. According to some historical scholars, worship of Krishna emerged in the 1st century BCE. However, Vaishnava traditionalists place it in the 4th century BCE. Despite the relative silence of the earlier Vedic sources, the features of Bhagavatism and the principles of monotheism of Bhagavata school, as described in the Bhagavad Gita, are viewed as an example of the belief that Vāsudeva-Krishna is not an avatar of the Vedic Vishnu, but is the Supreme Being Himself.

Vāsudeva (/ˌvɑːsuˈdeɪvə/; Sanskrit: वासुदेव [ʋɑːsudéːʋɐ]), later incorporated as Vāsudeva-Krishna (Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa, "Krishna, son of Vasudeva"), Krishna-Vāsudeva or simply Krishna, was the son of Vasudeva Anakadundubhi, king of the Vrishnis in the region of Mathura. He was a leading member of the legendary Vrishni heroes, and may well have been a historical ruler in the region of Mathura.

Vāsudevism arose with the decline of Vedism in India, which occurred during the 8th to 6th century BCE. Vāsudeva then became the object of one of the earliest forms of personal deity worship in India, and is attested from around the 4th century BCE. At that time, Vāsudeva was already considered as a deity, as he appears in Pāṇini's writings in conjunction with Arjuna as an object of worship, since Pāṇini explains that a vāsudevaka is a devotee (bhakta) of Vāsudeva.

Braj, also known as Vraj, Vraja, Brij or Brijbhumi, is a region in India on both sides of the Yamuna river with its centre at Mathura-Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh state encompassing the area which also includes Palwal, Ballabhgarh and Nuh in Haryana state, Deeg, Bharatpur, Karauli, and Dholpur in Rajasthan state and Morena District in Madhya Pradesh. Within Uttar Pradesh, it is very well demarcated culturally, the area stretches from the Mathura, Aligarh, Agra, Hathras and districts up to the Etawah district. Braj region is associated with Radha and Krishna who according to scriptures were born in Barsana and Mathura respectively. It is the main centre of Krishna circuit of Hindu pilgrimage.

It is located 150 km south of Delhi and 50 km northwest of Agra.

The Western Satraps, or Western Kshatrapas (Brahmi: , Mahakṣatrapa, "Great Satraps") were Indo-Scythian (Saka) rulers of the western and central parts of India (extending from Saurashtra in the south and Malwa in the east, covering modern-day Sindh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh states), between 35 and 415 CE. The Western Satraps were contemporaneous with the Kushans who ruled the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, and were possibly vassals of the Kushans. They were also contemporaneous with the Satavahana who ruled in Central India. They are called "Western Satraps" in modern historiography in order to differentiate them from the "Northern Satraps", who ruled in Punjab and Mathura until the 2nd century CE.

The power of the Western Satraps started to decline in the 2nd century CE after the Saka rulers were defeated by the Emperor Gautamiputra Satakarni of the Satavahana dynasty. After this, the Saka kingdom revived, but was ultimately defeated by Chandragupta II of the Gupta Empire in the 4th century CE.

Kankali Tila (also Kankali mound or Jaini mound) is a mound located at Mathura in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The name of the mound is derived from a modern temple of Hindu goddess Kankali. The famous Jain stupa was excavated here in 1890-91 by Alois Anton Führer (Dr. Führer).