Govardhan Puja / Annakut
The day after Diwali — the hill Krishna lifted, built in cowdung, and a mountain of food offered.
Where it is kept Braj, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra; the Vallabha sampradaya keeps it as its principal festival.
When it falls
Computed from the Moon's elongation from the Sun. The civil day is the one carrying the tithi running at sunrise.
Overview
A small hill is made in the courtyard from cowdung, decorated with flowers and twigs, and worshipped; cattle are washed, painted and garlanded. In temples the day is Annakut, the mountain of food — a hundred and eight dishes, or more, arranged in front of the deity and afterwards distributed.
In Gujarat the same morning is Bestu Varas, the first day of the Vikram Samvat year. In Maharashtra it is Balipratipada, one of the saade teen muhurta, marking Bali's return.
Where it comes from
The Bhagavata Purana's tenth book gives the episode: Krishna persuades the cowherds to stop the annual sacrifice to Indra and to worship the hill and the cattle that actually sustain them; Indra sends a week of rain in anger, and Krishna lifts Govardhan on his finger to shelter the village.
The point of the story as the text tells it is a substitution — a distant sky-god replaced by the visible source of the community's livelihood. The Annakut, the cattle worship and the dung hill all follow from that reading rather than from the miracle.
Why it matters
It is the cattle festival of the north Indian year, and in a pastoral economy that is not a small thing. The washing, feeding and garlanding of the animals is the observance in village practice.
For the Pushtimarg it is the year's central festival: Shrinathji at Nathdwara is the Govardhan-lifting form of Krishna, and the Annakut there is the largest of the tradition.
How to celebrate
- Make the Govardhan hill from cowdung and worship it in the morningThe customary form; the dung is deliberate and is not a substitute for anything.
- Wash, feed and garland the cattleThe centre of the observance in its agricultural form.
- Offer the annakut and distribute all of itThe food is made to be given away; that is the point of the mountain.
- Keep Bestu Varas or Balipratipada if that is your calendarThe Gujarati new year and the Marathi muhurta fall on this morning.
What to avoid
These are not all the same kind of thing. Some are prohibitions from a named text, some are Indian law, some are practical, and some are a confusion worth not repeating. Each item says which it is.
- Do not let the annakut go to wasteA mountain of food offered and then thrown away inverts the festival entirely.
- Do not worship Indra on this dayThis is a joke with a real point: the festival exists because the Bhagavata substitutes the hill and the herd for him.
- Do not work the cattle todayThey are the honoured party; the day is theirs off.
Where this comes from
Everything above is either computed by this site’s own panchang engine, or drawn from the works listed here. Where a custom is modern, commercial or contested, the page says so rather than presenting it as ancient.
- Bhagavata Purana 10.24–27, for the Govardhan episode and the replacement of the Indra sacrifice.
- Vishnu Purana and Harivamsha, for the same narrative in earlier form.
- Pushtimarg practice at Nathdwara, for the Annakut in its fullest liturgical form.
Dates are computed for the place named above and will differ elsewhere. Regional traditions vary; where two reckonings are in use, both are named rather than one being chosen silently.
Other festivals
All festivals, with dates for any year · The calendar on the home page