Pushtimarg Baithak

Baithak or Bethak,, is a shrine in the Pushtimarg tradition of Vaishnavism that commemorates a specific location where Vallabhacharya performed religious activities. These sites are considered sacred by followers for performing devotional rituals and are associated with the founder and his descendants.
The Baithaks are primarily associated with the proselytizing pilgrimages Vallabhacharya undertook across the Indian subcontinent to spread his devotional teachings.The most prominent collection of these sites is the Eighty-Four Seats. The tradition maintains that the act of visiting these sites constitutes a pilgrimage.
These sites are spread across India, chiefly concentrated in the Braj region in Uttar Pradesh and the western state of Gujarat. A total of 142 Baithaks are considered sacred: 84 of Vallabhacharya, 28 of his son Viththalanath Gusainji, and 30 of his seven grandsons.

Significance and function

The Caurāsī Baiṭhak specifically marks the eighty-four primary sites where Vallabhacharya sat to recite and provide oral exegesis on the Bhāgavatapurāṇa. Vallabhacharya’s intense commitment to the Bhāgavatapurāṇa was central to his mode of religious instruction, and the readings delivered at these locations are believed by followers to have transformed the lives of those who heard him.
The shrines often house hand-written manuscripts and personal artifacts of Vallabhacharya. Unlike many Hindu temples, Baithaks generally do not house images for worship; instead, devotees revere the seat itself and the manuscripts. Devotees offer personal items such as clothes and ornaments at these shrines. However, unlike the elaborate meals typically offered in temples, food offerings at Baithaks are often limited to water, sugar crystals and milk made sweetmeats. This is due to Shri Mahaprabhuji’s rule that he doesn’t eat from the hands of Vaishnavas but he cooks and eats himself after offering to Shri Navneetpriyaji during Pruthvi Parikrama. These sites generally observe the schedule of seven darshan periods followed in Vaishnava havelis.

Associated literature

The tradition surrounding the Baithaks is recorded in the devotional literature of the Pushtimarg, known as Vārtā Sāhitya. This corpus is crucial to the community's scriptural canon. It includes texts that function as a "theology of place," guiding pilgrims through the geographical sites associated with Vallabhacharya's religious activity.

Baithaks

Mahaprabhu was the founder of Pushtimarg who lived in 15th century. From the young age, he travelled and visited pilgrimage sites across India. He recited and gave discourses on sacred scriptures like Vedas, Ramayana and Bhagavata at these sites. The locations for recitation were usually banks of the rivers or lakes and quite groves in outskirt of towns. He recited original texts from scriptures as well as gave commentaries on them. Later these commentaries were compiled in Anubhashya and Subodhini.
These are 84 sites where Vallabhacharya gave discourses which are known as Baithaks. Later small shrines are built to commemorate the event at some sites. Some sites do not have shrines or temples to mark the place but they are known only through stories and texts.
His descendants also gave discourses at various places and established their Baithaks.

Mahaprabhu Vallabhacharya's 84 Baithaks

These 84 Baithaks are located from Rameswaram at the southern tip of India to Badrinath in the north, and from Narayan Sarovar and Bet Dwarka in west to Puri in the east. Baithaks are also located at the places associated with his life such as at Tirumala Tirupati, the family's tutelary deity; Champaran, his birthplace; Varanasi where he spent significant part of his life. Baithaks are also located in the regions highly associated with Krishna such as in Braj region and in Dwarka in Gujarat.

Number	Baithak Name	Location	Town/City	District	State	Coordinates	Notes
1	Govindghat	Gokul	Mathura	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh		This baiṭhak is the main ghat of Gokul and is where Vallabha initiated his first disciple.
2	Badi Bhitar Baithak	Gokul	Gokul	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh		Second Gokul Baithak, Gupta Baithak
3	Shayya Mandir	Dwarkadhish Temple	Gokul	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh		Third Gokul Baithak
4	Bansivat		Vrindavan	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
5	Vishramghat	Vishramghat	Mathura	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
6	Madhuvan	Madhuvan	Maholi	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
7	Kumodvan	Kumodvan	Usfar	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
8	Bahulavan	Bahulavan	Bathi	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
9	Radhakrishna Kund		Radhakund	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
10	Mansiganga	near Chakreshwar Mahadev, Vallabh Ghat	Govardhan	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh		Two Baithaks
11	Parasoli	Chandrasarovar	Govardhan	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
12	Anyor	Sadu Pandey's House	Anyor	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
13	Govindkund	opposite Giriraj	Anyor	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
14	Sundershila	opposite foothill of Giriraj	Jatipura	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
15	Govardhan hill	inside Shrinathji's Temple on Giriraj hill	Jatipura	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh		Gupta Baithak
16	Kamvan	Kamvan, Shrikund	Kaman	Bharatpur	Rajasthan
17	Ghewarvan	near Radhaji's Temple, below Morkutir	Barsana	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
18	Sanketvan	in the Garden, Krishna Kund	Barsana	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
19	Nandgam	Mansarovar Road	Nandgam	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
20	Kokilavan	Jauv	Baithen	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
21	Bhandirvan	Opposite bank of Yamuna river	Bhandir, Manjh Taluka	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh		Gupta Baithak
22	Mansarovar	Opposite bank of Yamuna river	Mat	Mathura	Uttar Pradesh
23	Sukar kshetra	Saurabhghat on bank of Ganga river	Soron	Kasganj	Uttar Pradesh
24	Chitrakut	Kamtanath hill	Pili Kothi	Satna	Madhya Pradesh
25	Ayodhya	Ramghat Road, Gunsai Ghat	Ayodhya	Faizabad	Uttar Pradesh		Gupta Baithak
26	Naimisharanya	opposite Vedvyasa Ashram	Naimisharanya, Taluka Mishrak	Sitapur	Uttar Pradesh		Gupta Baithak
27	Kashi-1	Sheth Purushottamdas' House Jatanvad	Varanasi	Kashi	Uttar Pradesh
28	Kashi-2	Hanuman Ghat	Varanasi	Kashi	Uttar Pradesh
29	Harihar Kshetra Baithakji Hajipur	near Mahadevji's temple, Magarhatta Chowk	Hajipur	Vaishali	Bihar
30	Janakpur	Bhagwandas Garder, near Chhoti Dhigi village	Janakpur	Vaishali	Bihar		Gupta Baithak
31	Gangasagar Sangam	near Kapil Ashram, on Kapil Kund, Kakdwip Bet			West Bengal		Gupta Baithak
32	Champaranya	via Rajim	Champaran	Raipur	Chhattisgarh		Birthplace
33	Champaranya Chattighar	via Rajim	Champaran	Raipur	Chhattisgarh
34	Jagannathpuri	near Harjimal Dudhwala'S Dharmshala, Grant Road	Puri		Odisha
35	Pandharpur	opposite Bank of River Chandrabagha, Shegaondumala	Pandharpur		Maharashtra
36	Nasik	Parasram Puriya Marg, Panchvati Karanja	Nasik		Maharashtra
37	Pannakala Nrisimha	On Mangalgiri hill, Mangalgiri Station	Vijayawada		Andhra Pradesh		Gupt Baithak
38	Tirupati Lakshman Balaji	Lakshman Balaji, Medharam Metta Road		Tirumala	Andhra Pradesh
39	Shrirangji	Shrirangam	Tiruchirappalli		Tamil Nadu		Gupta Baithak
40	Vishnukanchi	Chetravatri Muttukolam	Vishnukanchi		Tamil Nadu
41	Setubandh	Vallabhacharya Math	Rameshwaram	Ramnad	Tamil Nadu		Gupta Baithak
42	Malayachal Parvat	Malayachal Parvat near Ooty			Karnataka		Gupta Baithak
43	Lohgadh	Gujarati Temple, beside Rudreshwar Temple, Harvane - Sankhadi	Sanquelim	North Goa	Goa		Gupta Baithak
44	Tamraparni River	On the bank	Tiruchirappalli		Tamil Nadu		Gupta Baithak
45	Krishna River	Krishna Dham, Vadi Junction near Raichur Station	Krishna		Andhra Pradesh		Gupta Baithak
46	Pampa Sarovar	near Hampi Village, Haspeth Railway Station			Karnataka		Gupta Baithak
47	Padmanabh	Pondhanath	Thiruvananthapuram		Kerala		Gupta Baithak
48	Janardan Kshetra	Janardan Kshetra	Varkala		Kerala
49	Vidyanagar	Hampi Village, near Tungbhadra River	Hampi		Karnataka		Gupta Baithak
50	Trilokbhan	Tamraparni River, Totadri hill			Tamil Nadu		Gupta Baithak
51	Totadri	Totadri hill, Nangumeri village	Tirunelveli	Tirunelveli	Tamil Nadu		Gupta Baithak
52	Darvasen		Adisetu	Ramnad	Tamil Nadu		Gupta Baithak
53	Surat	Ashwinikumar Ghat, near Tapi River	Surat	Surat	Gujarat
54	Bharuch	beside District Panchayat, Station Road, on bank of Narmada river	Bharuch	Bharuch	Gujarat
55	Morbi	opposite Bank of Machchhu River, behind L.E. College	Morbi	Morbi	Gujarat
56	Jamnagar	near Nagmati River, Kalavad Road	Jamnagar	Jamnagar	Gujarat
57	Jamkhambhaliya	Station Road, on the Kund	Jamkhambhaliya	Devbhoomi Dwarka	Gujarat
58	Pindtarak	from Nandana Patiya Via Bhatiya, Pindara	Pindara	Devbhoomi Dwarka	Gujarat
59	Mul Gomti	Devidas Nathuram, Neelakantha Chowk	Dwarka	Devbhoomi Dwarka	Gujarat
60	Harikund, Dwarka	near Gomti River	Dwarka	Devbhoomi Dwarka	Gujarat
61	Gopi Talav		Dwarka	Devbhoomi Dwarka	Gujarat
62	Bet Shankhoddhar	Shankh Talav	Bet Dwarka	Devbhoomi Dwarka	Gujarat
63	Narayan Sarovar	Narayan Sarovar, Lakhpat Taluka	Narayan Sarovar	Kutch	Gujarat
64	Junagadh	Damodar Kund	Junagadh	Junagadh	Gujarat
65	Prabhas	on the Ghat of Triveni River	Prabhas Patan	Gir Somnath	Gujarat
66	Madhavpur	on Kadamkund	Madhavpur Ghed	Porbandar	Gujarat
67	Gupta Prayag	on Trivenikund	Delvada	Junagadh	Gujarat
68	Tagadi	Ahmedabad - Botad Road	Tagadi	Ahmedabad	Gujarat
69	Naroda	Gopaldasji Haveli, Naroda	Ahmedabad	Ahmedabad	Gujarat
70	Godhra	Rana Vyas Road, Patel Vad, Godhra	Godhra	Panchmahal	Gujarat
71	Kheralu	Shrimalivas	Kheralu	Mehsana	Gujarat
72	Siddhpur	Bindu Sarovar Road	Siddhpur	Patan	Gujarat
73	Avantikapuri	Gomti Kund, inside Sandipani Ashram	Ujjain	Ujjain	Madhya Pradesh
74	Pushkar	Near Brahma Mandir, Vallabhghat	Pushkar	Ajmer	Rajasthan
75	Kurukshetra	Saraswati Kund, near Bhadkrali temple, Thanesar	Kurukshetra	Kurukshetra	Haryana		Gupta Baithak
76	Haridwar	Ramghat, on bank of Ganga river	Haridwar	Haridwar	Uttarakhand		Gupta Baithak
77	Badrikashram	near Temple	Badrinath	Chamoli	Uttarakhand
78	Kedarnath	Kedar Kund	Badrinath	Chamoli	Uttarakhand		Gupta Baithak
79	Vyas Ashram	near Alaknanda - Saraswati Sangam, Keshav Prayag	Badrinath	Chamoli	Uttarakhand		Gupta Baithak
80	Himachal Parvat				Himachal Pradesh		Gupta Baithak
81	Vyas Ganga	Vyasghat			Himachal Pradesh		Gupta Baithak
82	Mandarachal	Mandarachal hill			Tamil Nadu		Gupta Baithak
83	Arail /Adel	Triveni Sangam	Devrakh, Naini	Allahabad	Uttar Pradesh
84	Charnat	Acharya Koop Charnat	Chunar	Mirzapur	Uttar Pradesh