Govardhan Puja

Govardhan Puja (IAST: Govardhana-pūjā), also known as Annakut or Annakoot (meaning a “mountain of food”), is a Hindu festival in which devotees worship Govardhan Hill and prepare and offer a large variety of vegetarian food to Krishna as a mark of gratitude. For Vaishnavas, this day commemorates the incident in the Bhagavata Purana when Krishna lifted Govardhan Hill to provide the villagers of Vrindavan shelter from torrential rains. The incident is seen to represent how God will protect all devotees who take singular refuge in him. Devotees offer a mountain of food, metaphorically representing the Govardhan Hill, to God as a ritual remembrance and to renew their faith in taking refuge in God. 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 Sampradaya, it is one of the important festivals. The Annakut festival occurs on the first lunar day of the Shukla Paksha (bright fortnight) in the month of Kartik, which is the day after Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.