Govardhan puja vidhi: the steps, as the Bhagavata describes the first गोवर्धन पूजा विधि: भागवत में बताई पहली पूजा के आधार पर

The article

Govardhan Puja is on Tuesday 10 November this year, with a quiet day between it and Diwali on Sunday 8 November. The steps families follow are older than any puja book. They come from the Bhagavata Purana itself.

## Where the steps come from

In the tenth book of the Bhagavata (chapter 24), the people of Braj are getting ready for their yearly offering to Indra. Krishna, still a boy, asks his father Nanda why. Their cows graze on Govardhan hill, he says, and the hill and the forest look after them. So he suggests a different offering. Cook every kind of dish, he says, from rice and dal to sweets. Offer it to the hill. Feed everyone, including those who have little. Give the cows fresh grass. Then dress well and walk around Govardhan with the cows in front.

The people of Braj did exactly that. The next chapter (10.25) tells of the long storm that followed, and of Krishna lifting the hill and holding it up for seven days while everyone sheltered beneath it. When families do Govardhan Puja today, they are repeating the offering of chapter 24 and remembering the shelter of chapter 25.

## What you need

- Something to make the hill: traditionally cow dung, shaped on the courtyard floor. In a flat, use a mound of cooked rice, wheat dough or a heap of sweets on a large plate. - Flowers, a few small twigs or blades of grass to stand in for trees, and a small figure or picture of Krishna. - A lamp, incense, roli and rice, a little milk or water. - The food for Annakut, whatever your family cooks.

## The steps

1. **Bathe and clean the place.** Morning is the usual time, once the Pratipada tithi is running. Check your city's panchang for the hours. 2. **Make the hill.** Shape a small Govardhan, wide at the base. Many families give it a face, arms and a navel, as if the hill were a person lying down, and place a small lamp or a cup of milk in the navel. Set Krishna's picture on or near it. 3. **Decorate it.** Flowers, the little twigs for trees, small figures of cows and cowherds if you have them. 4. **Offer the Annakut.** Place the dishes in front of the hill. Rice, dal, kadhi, puri, a mixed vegetable and something sweet is plenty. The Gita (9.26) gives the spirit of it: a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, offered with love, is accepted. 5. **Honour the cows.** If you live near cows, give them fresh grass and a little jaggery and touch their foreheads with respect. If not, offer grass before a picture, or give to a gaushala. 6. **Walk around the hill.** Go round your small Govardhan with the lamp, seven times or once, slowly, singing or saying Krishna's name. 7. **Aarti and sharing.** Do the aarti, then share the food with family, neighbours and anyone who helps in your home. Sharing is part of the puja, as Krishna asked.

## If you are in Braj

The 21-kilometre parikrama around Govardhan is very crowded on this day. Elders can walk part of it, or go by e-rickshaw. Carry water and start early.

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