Why Vrindavan Deserves Its Own Kind of Hospitality
Founder’s desk · June 2026 Why Vrindavan Deserves Its Own Kind of Hospitality By Yashveer…
The founder
Yashveer Singh Raghav
Founder & Chairman, Samalia Group. In a generation that sold its fields and moved to the cities, he stayed — and turned staying into a group of enterprises that all answer to the same soil.
यशवीर
Vrindavan · Braj
Chairman since inception
Braj
Born of this land
4
Ventures stewarded
2019
Welfare foundation
40ac
Under sacred crops
Thakur Yashveer Singh Raghav
The man who stayed with the land.
Yashveer Singh Raghav belongs to Braj the way its groves and ghats do — not as an address, but as an inheritance. While much of his generation measured success by the distance it put between itself and the village, he measured it differently: by what could be built without leaving.
The answer became Samalia Group. On family soil along the Mathura–Vrindavan corridor he built, venture by patient venture, a family enterprise: land and farmhouses for people who wanted their own roots in Braj; an agro and eco-friendly resort where pilgrims could rest amid gardens; sacred chandan and tulsi cultivation run as seva; and now Vrinda Tapovan Farm Stay, the group’s flagship retreat.
Guests of the resort know something his title doesn’t say: he replies. Reviews on travel platforms are answered personally, in his own name — because in his understanding of आतिथ्य, a guest’s word deserves the host’s own hand.
Since 2019 he has also served as Director of the Samalia Welfare Foundation in Mathura, the family’s formal commitment to the community its work depends on.
“The land is not an asset we hold. It is the elder we answer to — and everything Samalia builds must be able to look it in the eye.”
Yashveer Singh Raghav · Founder & Chairman
How he works
Three habits, held for decades.
01
Land first, always
Every decision starts with a walk on the soil in question. If the land can't carry an idea, the idea waits — or dies. No venture has ever been approved from behind a desk.
02
The guest is god
अतिथि देवो भव is policy, not poster. From personally welcoming families to personally answering their reviews, hospitality at Samalia begins and ends with the founder's own standard.
03
Grow like a tree
Slowly, and only where the roots hold. A decade of patience over a season of speed — chandan, the crop planted for one's children, is his favourite teacher.
04
Give back formally
Gratitude to a place must be organised, not occasional — hence the Samalia Welfare Foundation, giving the family's duty to Braj a permanent form.
Roles & responsibilities
One name, many duties.
Since inception
Family land in Braj
Sets the group's vision and holds every venture to the values the family began with.
Samalia Group
Owner
Samalia Agro Resort Vrindavan
The group's first hospitality address at Chaumuhan — where he still personally answers guests.
Hospitality
2019
Director, Samalia Welfare Foundation
The family's Mathura-registered non-profit for the community and traditions of Braj.
Welfare
Steward
Samalia Farms & Land Estates
Guides sacred-crop cultivation and responsible land development across the region.
Cultivation & Land
In his words
The Man Who Stayed With the Land
There is a story every farming family in Braj knows, because most of them have…
Samalia Farms Expands Organic Tulsi Cultivation on Braj Soil
Mathura — Samalia Farms, the cultivation arm of Samalia Group, has expanded its organic tulsi…
Write to the founder's own team.
Partnerships, media, or a simple namaskar — every message reaches the family desk.