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Krishna in a golden dhoti playing the flute beside Radha, two white cows behind them and palace pillars in the background — an 1897 chromolithograph.
Krishna playing the flute to Radha — Unknown press, chromolithograph, 1897

Krishna Giridhari & Govardhan · 45–60 minutes + the cooking

Govardhan puja & Annakut

Kartik Shukla Pratipada (10 Nov 2026; 30 Oct 2027)

In the simplest words

Building the food mountain — a heap of rice or 56 dishes as Govardhan hill, worshipped with Krishna's story of lifting it on one finger.

When Indra's pride flooded Braj, a boy lifted a hill on his smallest finger and a whole village stood dry beneath it for seven days. Govardhan puja rebuilds that hill — in cow-dung in the courtyards of Braj, in rice and food at home — and Annakut answers grace with abundance: a mountain of food offered back.

Perform this puja

5 steps, one at a time, with the lamp, the mantras and the bell — on this screen.

Samagri — what you need

0/3 gathered

The vidhi, step by step

0/5 done

  1. Build the Govardhan

    In the courtyard or puja space, shape the hill; small trees of grass, a peacock or two by Braj fancy; Krishna's image at its heart.

  2. Cook the Annakut

    The day's cooking is itself seva — many hands, many dishes, everything satvik, everything for him first.

  3. Puja & parikrama

    Roli-akshat and flowers to the hill; then the family circles it — the home's own Govardhan parikrama — singing his name.

    क्लीं कृष्णाय गोविन्दाय गोपीजनवल्लभाय स्वाहा

    Klīṁ kṛṣṇāya govindāya gopījana-vallabhāya svāhā

    Kleem — to Krishna, to Govinda, to the beloved of the gopis: svaha. The seed of divine attraction opens it and total offering closes it; between them stand three names that move from majesty (Krishna) through care (Govinda) to intimacy (the gopis' own beloved). Svaha gives the mantra its direction — everything said is also surrendered.

    Source: Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad

  4. Annakut arpan

    Every dish set before Giridhari, tulsi on the main bhog; the aarti of the mountain-lifter.

    हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे । हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे ॥

    Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

    Hare, Krishna, Rama — three names woven sixteen times into one garland. Hare is read as the call to Hari, who takes sorrow away, or — in the Gaudiya reading — to Hara, the divine energy, Radha; Krishna, the all-attractive; Rama, the reservoir of joy. There is no request anywhere in the mantra: it is pure address — the practice of calling the beloved by name until the calling itself becomes the meeting.

    Source: Kali-Santaraṇa Upaniṣad

  5. Gau-seva & prasad

    Where cattle are near, they are fed and honoured first — the day is theirs too. Then the great shared meal: Annakut prasad refuses no one.

Note: Braj temples build the dung hill and offer chhappan bhog (56 dishes); homes offer what love can cook — the count was never the point. Gujarati families keep this day as Bestu Varas, the new year.

Govardhan Puja · Annakut →