Goverdhan Puja

Govardhan-Puja is a festival to worship Lord Krishna and Govardhan Parvat or Mount Govardhan. It is widely celebrated in the northern part of India. This is the fourth day of Diwali and is celebrated in commemoration of lifting the mountain Govardhan by Lord Krishna on his finger tip.

The day is to worship Govardhan mountain which is said to have saved its’ inhabitants from incessant rains. It symbolizes the importance of nature in our lives.

The festival is also known as "Bali Padyami". On this day King Bali who was killed by Lord Rama would come out of Patala Loke and rule Bhuloke as per the boon given by Lord Vishnu.

Celebrations

This day is also known as Vijaya Dasami, because of the victory of Ram over Ravana. On this day in Satya Yug, Ram (the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu), killed the great demon and king of Lanka, Ravan. Puranas also opined that on this day warrior Goddess Durga defeated and killed the buffalo demon Mahishasura.

Goverdhan Puja   

Goverdhan puja is performed on the day following Badi Deepavali. In many houses, Annakoot puja is performed by preparing Chappan Bhog which contains 56 varieties of food items which are offered to God.

 

An image of Govardhan is made of cow dung or mud. You can also use a picture of Govardhan for the puja. 

Preparation for the Puja

- Cow dung or mud

- 2 sugarcane sticks

- Curds, unboiled milk, batasha, laddoo and peda

- Roll, chawal

- Clay Deepak and matchsticks

- One silver coin for some money for dakshina

Vidhi / Method of Performing the Puja

- Start the puja of Govardhanji by offering 2 sticks of sugarcane.

- Curd, unboiled milk, batasha, laddoo and peda are offered.

- Deepak is lit. Puja is done with roli and chawal

- After the puja, do four parikrama around Govardhanji

- Some batasha is left in the thali. This is later given to the mishrani with money.

- The katha of Lakshmiji is read.

- The mishrani, who reads the katha, is given a silver coin or money as dakshina.

- After puja the kaajal from the kajlota of Deepavali puja is applied.

- The women of the house first eat the sweet rice that was set aside on

- Deepavali and only then partake the food cooked that day.

Shri Lakshmiji Ki Katha

There was a Sahukaar’s daughter who used to water the Peepal tree everyday. Lakshmiji used to appear from the tree and would ask the girl to become her friend. One day the girl told Lakshmiji that she would seek her father's permission. The father advised his daughter to become Lakshmiji’s friend as she was Devi personified. The next day when Lakshmiji asked the girl again to become her friend she agreed and both became friends. Lakshmiji invited the girl to her house for a meal. After getting her father’s permission, she went to Lakshmiji’s house. There she was made to sit on a golden chowki and was served a sumptuous meal in vessels made of gold. Lakshmiji gifted her with a shawl, gold coins and ornaments. 

As she was leaving for her house, Lakshmiji caught hold of her pallu and asked to be invited to her house.

When the girl returned home, the Sahukaar found her looking sad and asked her for the reason. The daughter explained her dilemma saying Lakshmiji wanted to come to their house. She was sad because they would be unable to reciprocate the lavish hospitality extended by Lakshmiji. The father asked her not to worry and said they would offer Lakshmiji whatever they had. The Sahukaar then asked his daughter to smear the floor with cow dung, light a lamp in a corner of the house, place a laddoo next to it and sit there chanting Lakshmiji’s name. As she was chanting, an eagle brought a costly diamond necklace belonging to the Rani and on seeing the laddoo dropped the necklace there and took the laddoo away. The daughter sold the necklace and with that money, bought a gold chowki, gold utensils, gold coins, shawls and prepared sumptuous food. The daughter invited Lakshmiji for dinner.

The daughter placed the gold chowki and requested Lakshmiji to sit down. Lakshmiji declined explaining that even in the Raja’s palace she would not sit as she has to be on the move all the time for good of the world. The girl insisted that Lakshmiji should sit saying she wanted to prove to her family that Lakshmiji was her friend. Lakshmiji agreed to her request and sat down. The girl served her with lots of love and devotion. Lakshmiji was very pleased
and presented the girl with great wealth. After a while, the girl told Lakshmiji that she had to go out and requested that Lakshmiji should wait until she returned. The daughter did not come back and Lakshmiji continued to wait for her in her father’s house. As a result, the Sahukaar’s home was always filled with wealth and Lakshmiji’s blessings.

Lakshmiji, as you blessed the Sahukaars’s daughter with wealth and sat in her house so also bless the narrator of the katha, listener and followers of the katha along with their families.

Bindaayakji /Ganeshji ki Katha is read after one reads the festival katha. A few grains of rice are kept in the hand while listening to the katha, After completion of the katha, the rice grains are left in the water of the kalash, kept for puja.

Rituals
 

Govardhan is situated 26 km west of Mathura on the state highway to Deeg. A famous place of Hindu pilgrimage, Govardhan is located on a narrow sandstone hill known as Giriraj which is about 8 km in length. On this day people of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar build a shape of mountain with the help of cow dung and decorate them with flowers and then worship them.

This day is also observed as Annakoot meaning mountain of food. Pious people keep awake the whole night and cook fifty-six (or 108) different types of food for the bhog (the offering of food) also known as Chhappan Bhog to Krishna. In temples especially in Mathura and Nathadwara, the deities are given milk bath, dressed in shining attires with ornaments of dazzling diamonds, pearls, rubies and other precious stones. After the prayers and traditional worship innumerable varieties of delicious sweets are ceremoniously raised in the form of a mountain before the deities as "Bhog" and then the devotees approach the Mountain of Food and take Prasad from it. The offering of food to God on this day of Diwali is a reminder to Hindus of the importance of food and it is a time for being thankful to God for the bounty of nature.