Govardhana Puja

Govardhana Puja is celebrated on one of the days of DiwaliGovardhana Puja is celebrated on one of the days of the festival of Diwali, mainly in the North of India in honor of the raising of Mount Govardhana Krishna. According to legend, the inhabitants of Gokul usually celebrated this holiday in honor of the god Indra and worshiped him after the end of the monsoon season.

One day, young Krishna stopped them from sacrificial prayers to God Indra, who in terrible anger sent a flood on Gokul. People were frightened that the downpour was their punishment for disrespecting Indra. But God Krsna assured them that no trouble would affect them. He raised Mount Govardhan with his little finger and saved people and animals from the rain. After this, Krishna received the epithet Govardhandhari, and the God Indra recognized the supremacy of Krishna.

Govardhana is a small hill in Braja, near Mathura. On this day of Diwali, residents of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar build mounds of cow dung, decorate and worship flowers.

This day is also called Annakut, which means mountain food. Believers are awake all night and prepare 56 or 108 different kinds of food to offer it to Krishna. In temples, especially in Mathura and Nathadwara, deities are bathed in milk baths, dressed in shiny outfits decorated with diamonds, pearls, rubies and other precious stones. After prayer and worship, various sweets are laid out in a kind of mountain before the deities, then believers approach the Mountain of food and take some consecrated food from it.