Amrit Vichar, Lucknow: Govardhan Puja is performed on the next day of Diwali. It is also known as Annakoot. This festival has great importance in Indian folk life. In this festival the direct relationship of humans with nature is visible. This festival has its own belief and folklore. Godhan i.e. cows are worshiped in Govardhan Puja. It is said in the scriptures that the cow is as sacred as the Ganga among the rivers. Cow has also been said to be the form of Goddess Lakshmi. Just as Goddess Lakshmi provides happiness and prosperity, similarly mother cow also provides wealth in the form of health through her milk. Their calf grows grains in the fields. Therefore cow progeny is worshipable and respectable for the entire human race. To show reverence for the cow, Govardhan is worshiped on the day of Kartik Shukla Paksha Pratipada and the cow is worshiped as its symbol.
Importance of Govardhan in mythology
Acharya Pandit Pradeep Tiwari tells that according to the mythological story, once Devraj Indra became proud. To break Indra’s pride, Lord Shri Krishna, who himself is the incarnation of Leeladhari Shri Hari Vishnu, created a leela. In this leela of the Lord, one day he saw that all the people of Brij were preparing delicious dishes and were busy preparing for some puja. Shri Krishna very innocently asked Mother Yashoda, “Mother, for whose worship are you all preparing?” After listening to Krishna’s words, Mother said, Lalla, we are preparing Annakoot for the worship of Devraj Indra. When mother said this, Shri Krishna said, Mother, why do we worship Indra? Mother said that it rains which produces food and our cows get fodder from it. Lord Shri Krishna said that we should worship Gorvadhan Mountain because our cows graze there, from this point of view only Gorvadhan Mountain is worshipable. Indra never even gives darshan and gets angry if worship is not done, hence one should not worship such an arrogant person.
Due to Leeladhari’s leela and Maya, everyone worshiped Govarghan mountain in place of Indra. Devraj Indra considered this an insult and started torrential rain. Seeing the rain like deluge, all the people of Brij started cursing Lord Krishna that everything happened because they obeyed him. Then Muralidhar put the flute around his waist and lifted the entire Govarghan mountain on his little finger and called all the people of Brij to take shelter in it along with their cows and calves. Seeing this act of Krishna, Indra became angry and as a result the rain became more intense. To honor Indra, Shri Krishna then asked Sudarshan Chakra to control the speed of rain by staying on top of the mountain and asked Sheshnag to stop the water from coming towards the mountain by making a ridge.
Indra continued to rain torrentially for seven days, then he felt that no common man could face him, so he went to Lord Brahma and narrated the entire story. Brahma ji told Indra that the Krishna you are talking about is the visible part of Lord Vishnu and is the complete Purushottam Narayan. Hearing this from Lord Brahma, Indra became very embarrassed and said to Shri Krishna that Lord, I could not recognize you and hence I made a mistake out of ego. You are kind and merciful, so please forgive my mistake. After this, Devraj Indra worshiped Muralidhar and offered him food. Govardhan Puja started being performed only after this mythological incident. Brijvasi worship Govardhan mountain on this day. On this day, cows and bulls are bathed and applied ocher and a new rope is tied around their neck. Cows and bulls are fed a mixture of jaggery and rice.
Perform Govardhan Puja with this method
According to Acharya Pandit Pradeep Tiwari, there is an ancient tradition of applying oil on the body and taking bath in the morning on this day. On this day, wake up early in the morning, sit at the place of worship along with the puja material and meditate on your clan deity and clan goddess. For worship, make Govardhan mountain with cow dung with full devotion. It is made in the shape of a lying man. Symbolically, Govardhan is made and decorated with flowers, leaves, twigs and cow figures. The shape of Govardhan is made and the idol of Lord Krishna is placed in the middle. A bowl-sized pit is made in place of the navel. A bowl and an earthen lamp are kept there, then worship is done by adding milk, curd, Ganga water, honey and sugar etc. in it. After the puja it is distributed as Prasad.
Mother cow is worshiped by duly adorning herself.
According to Acharya Pandit Pradeep Tiwari, Govardhan Puja is performed in different areas with their own traditional methods. At some places, along with Govardhan Puja, there is a tradition of bathing the cows and decorating them with garlands of flowers like vermilion etc. Cow is also worshiped on this day. If you can bathe the cow and decorate it, then try to decorate the cow and feed jaggery mixed with ghee on its horns. After worshiping the cow, chant the mantra of Mahalakshmi ji. Offer sugarcane along with fruits and sweets to Govardhan. Curd is sprinkled from a waterfall in the navel of Govardhan. After this, there is a tradition to circumambulate him seven times. At the time of Parikrama, one person carries a pot of water in his hand and the other person carries food i.e. barley in his hand. The person carrying water walks by letting the stream of water fall on the earth and the other person completes the parikrama by sowing food i.e. barley.
Also read: Lakshmi-Ganesh Pujan: What to do with the old idol after Diwali puja, know the complete method
