Govardhana Pūjā 2003

Govardhana Pūjā commemorates the day Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa lifted Govardhana Hill on the tip of his little finger, holding it aloft for seven days to shelter the people and cattle of Vraja from the torrential rain sent by an angered Indra. The episode humbled Indra and established the worship of Govardhana Hill, the cows, and the natural world as central to the devotion of Vraja.

The day is marked by Gau Pūjā (worship of cows), and by building and worshipping a symbolic representation of Govardhana Hill, often out of cow dung, food, or clay, in temples and homes. It falls on Kārtika Śukla Pratipadā, the day after Dīpāvalī.