Govardhan Puja · Govardhan Puja · Annakut

The day

• The first day of the bright fortnight of Kartika, the morning after Deepavali's new moon.
• It is one day with many rites: Bali puja, Govardhan puja, worship of the cows, the annakuta, the margapali and the women's nirajana.

What to do today

• Worship Govardhan and Gopala in the morning window this page shows, with the cows beside them.
• Offer a heap of cooked food, the annakuta, to Krishna as the hill.
• Give the cows grass and rest: they are not milked or loaded today.

Its names

• Govardhan Puja and Annakuta in the north and in Braj; Bali Pratipada or Padwa in Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka (practice)

Puja samagri

• Cow dung (to shape the Govardhan), flowers, doob grass, cotton wool, kheel
• A small bowl or lamp holding milk, curd, honey, Ganga jal and a batasha
• Roli, akshat, kalava, dhoop, a ghee lamp, camphor
• A lota of water, and barley or grain for the parikrama
• Annakut bhog: chhappan bhog, or mixed vegetables, kadhi-chawal, puri, kheer, sweets, and tulsi leaves
• A picture of Shri Krishna/Giriraj ji, and green fodder for the cow

Make the Govardhan

• In the courtyard or the puja place, shape the Govardhan from cow dung in the form of a man lying down.
• Decorate it with flowers, doob and cotton wool, and place the bowl or lamp of milk, curd and honey at its navel.

Achaman

• Sip water three times, then wash your hands:
• "ॐ केशवाय नमः"
• "ॐ नारायणाय नमः"
• "ॐ माधवाय नमः"
• "ॐ हृषीकेशाय नमः" (wash your hands)

Pavitrikaran (purification)

• Sprinkle water over yourself and the samagri:
• "ॐ अपवित्रः पवित्रो वा सर्वावस्थां गतोऽपि वा। यः स्मरेत् पुण्डरीकाक्षं स बाह्याभ्यन्तरः शुचिः॥"

Lighting the lamp

• Light the ghee lamp:
• "शुभं करोति कल्याणम् आरोग्यं धनसम्पदा। शत्रुबुद्धिविनाशाय दीपज्योतिर्नमोऽस्तु ते॥"

Sankalp (the resolve)

• Holding water, akshat and a flower, say:
• "I, (name), of the (gotra) gotra, today on Kartik Shukla Pratipada, am performing the puja of Shri Govardhan for the happiness and prosperity of my family and the protection of our cattle (go-dhan)."

Ganesh puja

• Offer roli, akshat, durva and flowers.
• "ॐ गं गणपतये नमः" (three times)

Govardhan puja

• Offer roli, akshat, flowers, kheel-batashe, dhoop and the lamp.
• "गोवर्धन धराधार गोकुल त्राणकारक। विष्णुबाहु कृतोच्छ्राय गवां कोटिप्रदो भव॥"

Annakut bhog

• Arrange all the dishes before the Govardhan and Shri Krishna, and place a tulsi leaf in each dish.
• Circle water around them and say: "ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय। नैवेद्यं निवेदयामि।"

Parikrama

• Go round the Govardhan 7 times, letting a stream of water fall from the lota and scattering barley or grain.
• Keep saying "गिरिराज धरण की जय" as you go.

Gau puja

• Apply a tilak to a cow or calf, garland it, and feed it green fodder and jaggery: "ॐ सुरभ्यै नमः"
• If there is no cow nearby, worship a picture or idol of Gau Mata.

Aarti

• Sing the aarti "श्री गोवर्धन महाराज" and the aarti of Shri Krishna.
• At the end: "कर्पूरगौरं करुणावतारं संसारसारं भुजगेन्द्रहारम्। सदा वसन्तं हृदयारविन्दे भवं भवानीसहितं नमामि॥"

Kshama prarthana and prasad

• "आवाहनं न जानामि न जानामि विसर्जनम्। पूजां चैव न जानामि क्षमस्व परमेश्वर॥"
• Then share the Annakut prasad with your family and neighbours.

What it is

• Anna is food and kuta a peak: a mountain of cooked dishes offered to Krishna as the hill.
• Many kinds of vegetables suited to the place and season are cooked, with dishes as one can afford, and all of it is heaped into a mountain for Krishna.

What the Bhagavata lists

• In Krishna's own festival the cowherds cook many dishes, from sweet milk-rice to soups, with sweet cakes, fried cakes and every milk dish.
• Food is shared with everyone, down to the dogs, and the cows get fresh grass.

At home today

• Cook what your family can, keep it pure and vegetarian, and set it before Govardhan as one heap (practice)
• Many homes and temples make a great number of dishes, often with a mixed-vegetable dish and kadhi with rice (practice)
• After the offering, share the prasad with family, neighbours and those in need.

No fast is set

• This day is set for a feast, not a fast.

Women's nirajana — at dawn

• The women of the house wave lamps (nirajana) in the morning; this too is done at dawn.
• In Maharashtra the wife does the aarti of her husband on Padwa, and he gives her a gift (practice)

The margapali — in the afternoon

• In the afternoon, tie a rope of kusha or kasha grass high between a post and a tree on the east side.
• Bow to it as the giver of well-being, and let people, cattle and the household pass beneath it.
• Note: The margapali is now rarely kept; where it is, keep your family's form.

Night

• The evening garland of blessings (mangalamalika), song and music close the day.
• Honour your kin with new clothes.

The tithi

• Kartika Shukla Pratipada, the first lunar day after the Kartika new moon, in every calendar.

When the Pratipada is short

• When the Pratipada runs long after sunrise, every rite of the day is kept on that day.
• When it is short, Bali puja, the cow sport, Govardhan puja and the margapali move back to the Pratipada that began the day before, joined to the new moon.
• The oil bath, new clothes, the dice game, the women's nirajana and the mangalamalika stay with the Pratipada present at sunrise.
• The Padma Purana, too, takes Bali's day from the Pratipada joined to the new moon.

The moon

• Cows are not taken out for the festive sport on an evening when the new crescent can already be seen.

On this page

• The date and the morning and afternoon windows are worked out from these rules for your city.

The Indra festival

• In Vraja, Krishna saw the cowherds busy preparing a great yearly sacrifice and asked his father Nanda what it was for.
• Nanda told him it was for Indra, lord of the rain clouds, on whose rain all life and the cowherds' living depend.

Krishna's answer

• Krishna said that each being lives by its own karma, and that the cowherds' own work is the care of cows in the forest and on the hills.
• He asked them to use the same offerings for a sacrifice to the cows, the Brahmins and the hill Govardhan, which feeds their herds.
• They cooked every kind of dish, fed all, gave the cows grass, made offerings to the hill and walked round it with their cattle.
• Krishna took on a vast second form, said he was the hill, and ate the offerings, while he bowed with the people to that form.

Indra's storm

• Angered at the slight, Indra sent the clouds of dissolution; rain, hail and wind beat down on Vraja.
• Krishna lifted Govardhan on one hand as easily as a child lifts a mushroom, and sheltered the whole village with its cattle beneath it.
• He held it for seven days without moving; Indra's pride broke and he called back his clouds.

This day

• The same story is told for this day, Kartika Shukla Pratipada.

Bali's day

• The same Pratipada honours King Bali, the generous asura king whom Vamana sent to the nether world and who is promised a future reign.
• The king draws Bali in five colours, others shape him with white rice, and he is worshipped with a mantra that names him the Indra to come.
• The Bhavishya Purana sets Bali's worship at night.
• Gifts made for Bali today are said to be imperishable.

The mood of the year

• The joy or gloom a person keeps today stays with them through the year; so keep the day cheerful.

Dyuta Pratipada

• A dice game is played at dawn on this day; Shiva and Parvati played on this Pratipada and Parvati won.
• Where it is kept today it is a light family game; nothing in the custom asks for a stake (practice)

Braj and the north

• Pilgrims walk the parikrama of Govardhan hill, and temples set out the annakut for darshan (practice)

Maharashtra and Goa

• Padwa or Bali Pratipada: a day for husband and wife, with the wife's aarti and the husband's gift, and an auspicious day for new beginnings (practice)

Karnataka

• Bali Padyami: the day is kept in Bali's name, with lamps and worship at home (practice)

Gujarat

• The day after Deepavali begins the new year in many Gujarati families; elders bless the young (practice)