Annakut

Goverdhan Puja, or Annakut or Annakoot (translated as “a mountain of food”) as it is also known, is a Hindu festival in which devotees prepare and offer a large variety of vegetarian food to the murtis of Paramatma(God) as a mark of gratitude. For Vaishnavas, this day commemorates the incident in the Bhagavata Puran 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 many Hindu denominations, but is particularly prominent among the Vallabh Sampradaya (Pushtimarg), the Gaudiya Sampradaya of Chaitanya, and the Swaminarayan Sampradaya. The Annakut festival occurs on the first lunar day of Shukla Paksha (bright fortnight) in the Hindu calendar month of Kartik, which is the fourth day of Deepawali (Diwali), the Hindu festival of lights, and also the first day of the Vikram Samvat calendar.

The 2016 date for this observance is October 31.

Krishna spent most of his childhood in Braj, a place devotees associate with many of Krishna’s divine and heroic exploits with his childhood friends. One of the most significant incidents, described in the Bhagavata Purana, involves Krishna lifting Mount Govardhan (Govardhan Hill), a low hill situated in the middle of Braj. According to the Bhagavata Purana, forest-dwelling cowherds living close to Govardhan used to celebrate the autumn season by paying respect to Indra, the god of rain and storm. Krishna did not approve of this since he desired that the villagers not pray to distant gods but rather give appreciation to avatar of God present before them. He therefore initiated a festival that paid respect to Mount Govardhan by preparing a 'giriyajna' - a "great offering of foods and delicacies to the mountain" Krishna then assumed the form of a mountain himself and accepted the villagers' offerings. Indra was angered upon seeing the villagers' devotion diverted away from him and toward Krishna. and directed a lightning storm and a torrential downpour upon the village for days. To protect the villagers from this calamity, Krishna lifted Mount Govardhan on his little finger and had the entire village come under the hill to take shelter from the storm. Indra, after causing torrential rains for seven days, ultimately gave up and bowed to Krishna’s superiority. This story is one of the most recognizable in the Bhagavata Purana.

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