When is Govardhan Puja 2026?

Tuesday, 10 November 2026. It is Pratipada of Shukla paksha in Kartika, and that tithi runs from 9 Nov, 12:32 PM to 10 Nov, 2:00 PM.

Not this year. Diwali's Lakshmi Puja is Sun 8 Nov, and Amavasya runs until 9 Nov, 12:32 PM. Govardhan Puja is kept on Kartika Shukla Pratipada, the next tithi, which falls on Tue 10 Nov — two days after Lakshmi Puja.

Three honest reasons. The tithi can be running at the deciding moment on two days or on none. North India reckons the month purnimanta and the south and west amanta, which names the same krishna fortnight differently. And almanacs differ on which moment of the day decides an observance. The instants above are the astronomy; the day is an interpretation of them.

In New Delhi on Tuesday, 10 November 2026 the morning muhurat is 6:39 AM to 8:49 AM, the first fifth of the daylight, and the evening muhurat is not available this year, as Pratipada does not run then, the last fifth, both while Pratipada runs. Most homes worship in the morning; when Pratipada begins after the morning window, the evening one is used.

It is the day after Diwali, Kartika Shukla Pratipada, when Krishna's lifting of Govardhan hill to shelter Vraja from Indra's storm is remembered. Families shape a Govardhan figure, often of cow dung, worship it, walk around it seven times, honour cows and offer Krishna the Annakut, a mountain of food that is then shared.

Bathe early, shape a Govardhan figure in the courtyard with a hollow navel, decorate it with cows, cowherds, grass and flowers, and worship it in the muhurat with roli, rice, flowers, milk and batashe. Walk around it seven times, offer the Annakut to Krishna, honour cows if you can, sing the aarti and share the food. The steps above give the order.

Traditionally it is shaped from fresh cow dung as a reclining figure or a small hill, with a hollow navel and small cows and cowherds around it. Without cow dung, use clean clay or a mound of food, or worship a Giriraj stone or a picture of Krishna holding the hill; the devotion matters more than the material.

Annakut means a mountain of food: the many dishes offered to Krishna on Govardhan Puja, as the people of Vraja offered them to the hill. It is part of the same day, so the names are used together. Chappan bhog, fifty-six dishes, is how temples often present the Annakut; at home, offer as many dishes as you can make.

The centre is the Annakut sabzi, many of the season's vegetables cooked together, with kadhi, rice, bajra or millet khichdi, puri, kheer and sweets. Each dish is offered with a tulsi leaf. Many families cook simply and without onion and garlic for the offering, then share it with everyone.

It is kept on Kartika Shukla Pratipada, the first day of the bright fortnight, which tradition remembers as the day Vraja offered its Annakut to Govardhan instead of the sacrifice to Indra. Diwali's Amavasya falls the evening before, so in most years the two run on consecutive days.

The Bhagavata Purana tells how Krishna persuaded the cowherds to worship Govardhan, their cows and the brahmins instead of holding their yearly sacrifice to Indra. Indra sent a terrible storm; Krishna lifted the hill with one hand and sheltered everyone under it for seven days. Humbled, Indra came with the cow Surabhi and named Krishna Govinda.

The Govardhan verse, Govardhana dharadhara Gokula-trana-karaka, is said while worshipping the figure; the cow verse, Lakshmir ya lokapalanam, while honouring the cows; and Krishnaya Vasudevaya or the Hare Krishna names while offering the Annakut. All of them, with meaning, are in the mantra section.

Aarti Kunjbihari ki, the Krishna aarti whose refrain names him Shri Giridhar, the holder of the mountain, is the one most homes sing; Braj also sings Shri Govardhan Maharaj in praise of the hill. The full text of Aarti Kunjbihari ki is given above with a transliteration.

Fresh cow dung or clean clay for the figure, small cows and cowherds, grass, twigs, cotton and flowers to decorate it, roli, rice, mauli, milk, curd, honey and batashe for the navel, diyas, incense, a lota for the parikrama, the Annakut dishes, and green fodder with jaggery for the cows. The list above gives substitutes.

Seven parikramas around the Govardhan figure are customary, in imitation of the pilgrims who walk around the hill in Braj; some pour a thin stream of water or milk from a lota as they go. There is no fixed number of diyas: light some during the morning puja and a ring of them around the figure at dusk.

No scripture forbids study on the day; some families simply keep it as a holiday from work and books, and you may follow your family's custom. Most households keep the day vegetarian because it is a day of offering food to Krishna, and they avoid meat, eggs and alcohol.

ISKCON temples build a hill of sweets as Govardhan, worship it with kirtan and walk around it before the feast. In Braj, temples offer a towering Annakut and pilgrims walk the parikrama of the hill, about twenty-one kilometres,, while Nathdwara's Shrinathji receives a mountain of rice.

Krishna's argument in the story was that Vraja lived by its cows and its hill, and Indra himself later named him Govinda, lord of the cows. So on this day cows and calves are bathed, decorated, given a tilak and fed jaggery and green fodder; a visit to a gaushala keeps the custom in a city.