Festival Krishna, Govardhan, Gomatha
Govardhan Puja · Annakut
The first day of the bright fortnight of Kartika, the day after Diwali, when Krishna lifted the Govardhan hill on his finger to shelter the cowherds from Indra's rain.
Govardhan Puja · Annakut 2026 falls on Tuesday, 10 November, computed for Chennai.
Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
- Tuesday, 10 November 2026
- Saturday, 30 October 2027
- Wednesday, 18 October 2028
Where Govardhan Puja · Annakut falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2026: 10 Nov
- 2027: 30 Oct, 11 days earlier
- 2028: 18 Oct, 11 days earlier
The five days of Diwali
Part of the same festival, in order, in the North India calendar
- Dhanteras · Dhanvantari Jayanti …
- Naraka Chaturdashi · Chhoti Diwali …
- Diwali · Lakshmi Puja …
- Govardhan Puja · Annakut(this page) …
- Bhai Dooj · Bhau Beej …
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The first day of the bright fortnight of Kartika, the day after Diwali, when Krishna lifted the Govardhan hill on his finger to shelter the cowherds from Indra's rain. A small hill of cow dung or of food is made in the courtyard and worshipped, and the temples pile up the annakut, the mountain of cooked food, before the deity.
- Deity
- Krishna, Govardhan, Gomatha
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
When the cowherds of Braj were making ready their yearly offering to Indra for the rain, the boy Krishna asked them why: it was the hill that fed their cows, the forest that gave them wood and the cows that gave them milk, so the hill should have the offering. Indra in his anger sent a week of storm, and Krishna lifted Govardhan on the little finger of his left hand and held it up for seven days while all of Braj, its people and its herds, sheltered beneath; Indra came down at last, humbled, and bathed him as Govinda, the lord of cows. The northern household keeps the story by building Govardhan Maharaj in the courtyard from cow dung, shaped as a man lying on his back with a hollow at his navel for milk, curd and a lamp, and walking round him. The annakut says the rest: the new harvest cooked in every way the kitchen knows and heaped up like a hill before Krishna, then shared with everyone who comes, because a gift from the earth is not meant to be hoarded.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Govardhan Puja · Annakut: how it is kept
Keep ready
- fresh cow dung
- flowers, grass and cotton to dress the figure
- a clay lamp
- milk, curd, honey, Ganga water and batashe
- roli, rice and khil
- a lota of water and a handful of barley for the parikrama
- the vegetables of the season for the annakut
- bajra and moong dal for the khichdi
- jaggery and green fodder for the cows
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
The annakut ki sabzi, every vegetable of the season cooked together, is served with bajre ki khichdi, kadhi, puri and rice; the temples of Braj and the Pushtimarg havelis offer the chhappan bhog, fifty-six dishes, round a hill of cooked rice. Gujarat eats the sweets and farsan of Bestu Varas, its new year, the same morning, and Maharashtra the Padwa feast.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 10 November 2026 at Chennai
Kartika Shukla Pratipada at sunrise; the Govardhan hill is built and worshipped in the morning and the annakut offered at midday.
The main rite. Kartik Shukla Pratipada at sunrise; the Govardhan is built and worshipped in the morning, or in the afternoon where family custom has it, and the annakut is offered in the temples at midday.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:06 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Madhyahna | 11:53 | midday, the midpoint of sunrise and sunset |
Sunrise 06:06, sunset 17:40, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Prathamai from previous day 12:32 until 14:01 | then Shukla Dwitiyai until next day 15:54 |
| Nakshatra | Vishakha until 09:19 | then Anuradha until next day 11:38 |
| Rahu kaal | 14:46 to 16:13 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 08:59 to 10:26 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 11:53 to 13:20 (1 h 27 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:30 to 12:16 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 06:47 | moonset 18:20 |
For Tuesday, 10 November 2026 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast. The annakut is the point of the day: fifty-six kinds of food, the chhappan bhog, in the larger temples.
What is avoided
The Govardhan is not stepped over or spoiled, and the cows are neither worked nor beaten. The annakut kitchen stays vegetarian and in most homes cooks without onion and garlic.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Braj, Gujarat and the Pushtimarg temples keep it hardest; Gujarat also begins its Vikram Samvat year on this day as Bestu Varas, which is why the Gujarati year number lags the North Indian one from Chaitra to Diwali. Maharashtra keeps the same tithi as Balipratipada and Nepal as the fourth day of Tihar, when the ox is worshipped and the Newars keep Mha Puja, the worship of the self, and open Nepal Sambat, their own year count.
In other regions
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps it as Bali Padyami, for Bali's yearly return from below, with a figure of Bali, often shaped from cow dung, worshipped at the door.
- North India (the dates above)
- Braj keeps it hardest, with great crowds walking the parikrama of the hill at Govardhan and every temple in Mathura and Vrindavan piling its annakut; the rest of the Hindi belt builds the Govardhan in the courtyard.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra keeps the same tithi as Balipratipada, the Diwali Padwa, one of its three and a half muhurtas, with the wife's arati for the husband and the new account books opened.
- Punjab
- The Punjab and Haryana keep the day after Diwali as Vishwakarma Day as well, when the workshops, the tools and the machines are closed and worshipped.
- Nepal
- Nepal keeps it as the fourth day of Tihar, Goru Tihar and Govardhan Puja, with the ox worshipped and a hill of cow dung made, and the Newars keep Mha Puja, the worship of the self, and open Nepal Sambat, their own year.
The dates above are the North India reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
गोवर्धन पूजा की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएंGovardhan Puja ki hardik shubhkamnayein
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Giriraj Govardhan (Danghati Temple) 1,630 kmMathura, Uttar Pradesh
The entry for this day names Govardhan. The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. The first day of the bright fortnight of Kartika, the day after Diwali, when Krishna lifted the Govardhan hill on his finger to shelter the cowherds from Indra's rain.
- Shrinathji Temple, Nathdwara 1,481 kmRajsamand, Rajasthan
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. Janmashtami and Annakut are its days.
Temples of Krishna near you
Not recorded for this day in particular: the nearest temples of the day's own gods, for a reader whose own temple is not listed above.
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Venkatakrishnan (Parthasarathy) with the arrow scars on his face
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · The eight forms of Lakshmi in shrines on four floors, facing the sea
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adhivyadhihara Bhaktha Anjaneyar, thirty-two feet tall from a single block of granite
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Neervanna Perumal below and Ranganathar on the hill, in four postures
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
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A temple is listed here only where the gazetteer's own line names this day, or where this day's own entry names the town, or where the day belongs to the ancestors or the nagas and the temple is recorded for that rite. Where neither table says anything, nothing is listed as kept for the day; where fewer than three are, the nearest temples of the day's own gods are added under a heading of their own.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.