About Govardhan Puja
Govardhan Puja, also called Annakut, falls on the first day of the bright fortnight of Kartik, and in 2026 that is Tuesday, 10 November 2026. Vaishnava households and temples build a hill of cooked food for Krishna, remembering the day he lifted Govardhan hill over Braj. The same tithi is Bali Pratipada in Maharashtra and Karnataka and the Gujarati new year.
The fourth day of Diwali is the one with the most cooking. Govardhan Puja, known in temples as Annakut, sets out a mound of cooked food in front of Krishna: rice, puris, kadhi, sabzis, sweets, sometimes more than a thousand separate dishes. The word annakut means a hill of grain, and that is the point. The offering is shaped like the hill it commemorates.
The argument Krishna won
The story comes from the tenth canto of the Bhagavata Purana, chapters 24 and 25. The cowherds of Braj are preparing their yearly sacrifice to Indra, the god of rain and the overlord everyone appeases. The boy Krishna asks his father Nanda a plain question: what has Indra actually done for them? Their livelihood comes from the cattle, from the grass on Govardhan hill and from the forest. Worship what feeds you, he argues, and the village agrees.
Indra, slighted, sends a week of destroying rain. Krishna lifts Govardhan hill on the little finger of his left hand and holds it up as a shelter until the storm exhausts itself. Indra concedes.
Two details in the text get flattened in retellings. The offerings made to the hill are eaten by Krishna in a huge form he assumes on the spot, so that the cowherds believe the hill has accepted them. And the villagers spend all seven days under the hill without food.
I am Govardhana Mountain.
Those seven days explain the number that shows up everywhere on this festival. Krishna is said to have eaten eight times a day at home, so seven days of hunger became fifty-six meals, and the chhappan bhog, the offering of fifty-six items, is presented to him afterwards. Many temples now go far past fifty-six.
Where are the best-known Annakut celebrations held?
The best-known Govardhan Puja annakut is held at Nathdwara in Rajsamand district, Rajasthan. Its deity, Shrinathji, was first worshipped at Govardhan hill itself and was moved to Mewar in the seventeenth century; the image shows Krishna with his left arm raised, the moment of lifting the hill. The temple belongs to Pushtimarg, the tradition founded by Vallabhacharya, where food offered with care is central to worship rather than incidental to it.
Swaminarayan temples treat the annakut as the start of their new year. At the BAPS temple in Shahibaug, Ahmedabad, devotees laid out over 1,200 dishes for the annakut in 2025, arranged in tiers in front of the murtis after about 45 days of preparation. Braj itself fills up: pilgrims walk the parikrama around Govardhan hill, a circuit of roughly 21 kilometres past Daan Ghati, Manasi Ganga, Kusum Sarovar and Radha Kund, many of them barefoot. The hill is an eight-kilometre ridge in Mathura district, low enough that first-time visitors are often surprised by it, and it is worshipped as Giriraj, a form of Krishna rather than a place associated with him.
How is Govardhan Puja done at home?
At home, Govardhan Puja means building a small hill, decorating and lighting it, cooking the annakut, offering and circling it, tending the cattle and sharing the prasad.
- Build the hillA small Govardhan is shaped on the floor or in the courtyard from cow dung, or from clay or rice where dung is not practical. Twigs, flowers and a figure of Krishna are set on top.
- Decorate and light itTurmeric, kumkum, flowers and a row of small diyas go around the outline. Some families model cows, trees and cowherds alongside.
- Cook the annakutA vegetarian spread, usually without onion or garlic, with at least one dish made from each of the season's new grains. Kadhi with rice is the classic Braj combination.
- Offer and circle itThe food is placed before Krishna, aarti is done, and the family walks a parikrama around the little hill, often seven times.
- Tend the cattleWhere there are cows, they are washed, their horns painted, garlands put on, and they are fed first from the offering.
- Share the prasadThe annakut is distributed the same day to family, neighbours and anyone who comes. None of it is meant to be wasted.
One tithi, several festivals
Kartik Shukla Pratipada carries different names and different stories depending on where you are.
| Region | Name | What is marked |
|---|---|---|
| Braj, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi | Govardhan Puja, Annakut | Krishna lifting the hill; the mountain of food |
| Gujarat and Rajasthan | Bestu Varas | The Vikram Samvat new year, greeted with Saal Mubarak. See Gujarati New Year |
| Maharashtra | Bali Pratipada, Diwali Padwa | The return of King Bali; husbands and wives exchange gifts and the wife does her husband's aarti |
| Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh | Bali Padyami | Bali's yearly return, with forts of clay or cow dung built for him |
| Himachal Pradesh | Barlaj | Farmers keep off the plough and artisans worship their tools |
| Jammu | Raja Bali | Bali honoured as a just king |
The Bali story runs the other way from the Govardhan one. Bali, a generous asura king, is pushed to the netherworld by Vishnu in his dwarf form Vamana, and is granted one day a year to come back and see his people. Swaminarayan and Pushtimarg temples keep the day for the annakut; many Maharashtrian and Kannada families keep it for Bali.
How is the date of Govardhan Puja decided?
Govardhan Puja is held on Pratipada, the first tithi of the bright fortnight of Kartik, with the puja in the morning. Because tithis begin at any hour, the day does not sit at a fixed distance from Diwali. Usually it is the morning after Lakshmi Puja. When Pratipada starts late in the day, panchangs push the puja to the following morning, leaving an apparently empty day after Diwali; when it starts very early, the puja can land on the Amavasya date itself. Check a panchang set to your city before you assume it is "the day after Diwali", especially outside India, where the gap can differ by a day.
What to write
Happy Govardhan Puja. Thinking of the annakut at home and Maa's kadhi, which no temple has ever matched. Save some for me.
Saal Mubarak and Nutan Varshabhinandan. Wishing you and your family a good new year, in the books and out of them.
Diwali Padwa chya hardik shubhechha. Wishing you both a lovely Padwa and a year that treats you well.
Happy Govardhan Puja and Annakut to you and your family. Hope the day is full of good food and very little work.
Wishing you a wonderful Govardhan Puja. Do the parikrama slowly, drink water, and tell me what Daan Ghati looks like this year.
Happy Annakut. Today is literally about cooked food being holy, so this feels like your festival. Thank you for feeding us all year.
Govardhan Puja ki hardik shubhkamnayein. We made the little hill at home and the children argued over where Krishna should sit. Missing you both.
Do
- Say "Saal Mubarak" to Gujarati friends on this day; for them it is New Year's Day, not only Govardhan Puja.
- Take sweets or dry fruit if you are visiting, and accept the annakut prasad even if it is a spoonful.
- Ask before photographing a home puja or the food arrangement in a temple.
Avoid
- Don't send a non-vegetarian hamper or a bottle to a household marking Annakut; the day's food is strictly vegetarian and often onion-free.
- Don't throw away leftover prasad. Pass it on or eat it later.
- Don't assume the date is always the day after Diwali; in some years it is two days after.
The Diwali week ends the next day with Bhai Dooj, and it opened with Dhanteras. If Krishna's early life is the part of the story you care about, Krishna Janmashtami marks his birth.
How to wish someone on Govardhan Puja
The day is about food, cattle and the people who produce both, so a Govardhan Puja wish works best when it thanks rather than congratulates. Mention the annakut, the cook in the family, a farmer you know, or the temple darshan they are heading to. For Gujarati friends the same day is the new year, so Saal Mubarak or Nutan Varshabhinandan is the right greeting, and Marathi friends will be marking Diwali Padwa.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Hindi + recipient language.
When is Govardhan Puja in 2026 and 2027?
Govardhan Puja is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 11 days earlier than in 2026.
- 2026
- 2027
Frequently asked questions
When is Govardhan Puja in 2026?
Govardhan Puja 2026 falls on Tuesday, 10 November 2026.
Why is Govardhan Puja celebrated?
It remembers the Bhagavata Purana account of Krishna persuading the cowherds of Braj to stop sacrificing to Indra and to honour Govardhan hill and their cattle instead, and then lifting the hill for seven days to shelter them from Indra's rains. The festival is a thanksgiving for food and for the land and animals that produce it.
What is annakut, and why 56 dishes?
Annakut means a hill of food: a mound of cooked vegetarian dishes offered to Krishna, echoing the hill he lifted. The traditional count of 56, called chhappan bhog, comes from the belief that Krishna ate eight times a day and went without food for the seven days he held up Govardhan.
Is Govardhan Puja always the day after Diwali?
Usually, but not always. It is held on Pratipada of the bright fortnight of Kartik, and depending on when that tithi begins the puja can fall two days after Diwali, or occasionally on the Amavasya date itself. A panchang set to your own city gives the correct day.
What do Gujaratis celebrate on Govardhan Puja day?
The same tithi is Bestu Varas, the first day of the Vikram Samvat new year in Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan. Families greet each other with "Saal Mubarak" or "Nutan Varshabhinandan", visit elders and open new account books, while many also attend the annakut at their temple.
What is Bali Pratipada and how is it different?
Bali Pratipada, called Bali Padyami in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and Diwali Padwa in Maharashtra, falls on the same day but remembers the asura king Bali's annual return to earth after Vishnu's dwarf incarnation Vamana sent him to the netherworld. In Maharashtra it is also a day for married couples, who exchange gifts.
Can a non-Hindu attend an Annakut at a temple?
Yes. Annakut darshan is open to visitors at most Krishna and Swaminarayan temples. Dress modestly, remove your shoes, join the queue rather than approaching the food display directly, and accept the prasad that is offered with your right hand.
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