Govardhan Puja, also known as Annakut or Annakoot, is a Hindu festival. It commemorates the incident in the Bhagavata Purana when Krishna lifted Govardhan Hill to provide the villagers of Vrindavan shelter from torrential rains. The day is celebrated on the fourth day of Diwali, the day after the Hindu festival of lights.
About Govardhan Puja in brief
Govardhan Puja, also known as Annakut or Annakoot, is a Hindu festival. It commemorates the incident in the Bhagavata Purana when Krishna lifted Govardhan Hill to provide the villagers of Vrindavan shelter from torrential rains. The festival is observed by most of Hindu denominations all over India and abroad. For Vaishnavas, particularly the Pushtimarg of Vallabha, the Gaudiya Sampradaya of Chaitanya and the Swaminarayan Sampraday, it is one of the important festivals. Devotees offer a mountain of food to God as a ritual remembrance and to renew their faith in taking refuge in God. The day is celebrated on the fourth day of Diwali, which is the day after the Hindu festival of lights. Some texts treat Govardjan Puja as a principal ritual, while others treat it as a day of offering gratitude for Krishna’s benevolence and life-affirming power.
In the days leading up to the festival, fifty-six food items are typically prepared and offered in the evening. Families create an image of Giriraj Govardan from cow dung, adorning it with miniature cow figures as well as grass as twigs, representing trees and greenery. They circle the hill with a cow and a bull, followed by families in the village. They eat the food after circling the hill and offer it to the hill after the crowd, including a large crowd of Mathura brahmins. The ritual is performed during the first three days of the five days of DiWali, the first days of prayer to sanctify wealth and invite greater wealth and greater wealth into the devotee’s life. This year, the festival is held on the first lunar day of the Shukla Paksha in the month of Kartik.
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This page is based on the article Govardhan Puja published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 19, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
