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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, all of it satvik, all of it 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: all that is 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 is the all-attractive; Rama is 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 →