Govardhan Puja · Margapali

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)

When

• In the morning window this page shows; the Skanda Purana sets the Govardhan worship at dawn.

The hill

• Where the real Govardhan is near, worship the hill itself.
• Elsewhere shape a Govardhan of cow dung in the courtyard, or raise it as a heap of food; a painted one may also be worshipped.
• Many families shape Krishna lying on the ground, with cowherds and cattle of cow dung round him, and set a lamp at his navel (practice)

Worship

• Take the sankalp: this great festival of Govardhan and Gopala is done for Shri Krishna's pleasure.
• Invoke Gopala with the hill as the guardian at Bali's door, then worship both with the sixteen services.
• Offer the great naivedya, as much as your means allow.

The cows

• Worship the cows and calves, adorn them, and give them grass.
• Give food to Brahmins and to those who come, and offer a portion to the hill.

Circling

• Walk round the cows, the Brahmins, the fire and the hill with family and friends, keeping them to your right.

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)