The story behind Govardhan Puja
The festival is therefore deeply Vaishnava and deeply pastoral — Krishna's love for his cows, his protection of his bhaktas, and his teaching that local, immediate sources of nourishment deserve worsh…
The festival is therefore deeply Vaishnava and deeply pastoral — Krishna's love for his cows, his protection of his bhaktas, and his teaching that local, immediate sources of nourishment deserve worship more than distant cosmic powers. The central ritual is the Annakut (literally "mountain of food"): a vast offering of dishes — sometimes 56 (chappan bhog), sometimes 108 — heaped before Krishna in temples and homes. In Vaishnava tradition, this offering is drawn from the abundance of one's own home and given back to Krishna in gratitude before being shared as prasad with the community.
Many families also build a small clay or cow-dung mound representing Govardhan Hill in their courtyard, decorating it with flowers and grass, and circumambulate it as the lifting itself is remembered. In Mathura and Vrindavan, the Govardhan Parikrama — a 21-kilometre circumambulation of the actual hill — draws thousands of pilgrims who walk barefoot through the night.