Most of the amazing pastimes of Sri Krishna have been described in the Tenth Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. ’The lifting of Govardhan Hill’ is one of the favorite pastimes of devotees.
In this pastime, Krishna, at the age of 7, lifted the Govardhan Hill, with the help of His little finger of left hand, for seven days and seven nights in Vrindavan. The hill was balanced on the tip of His small finger. Lord Indra (God of Rain and King of heaven) was so angry by seeing the ignorance of the inhabitants of Vrindavan towards him. He then, poured a devastating rainstorm there to teach them a lesson. All the residents of Vrindavan took shelter under the lifted Govardhan Hill like a huge umbrella. Lord Indra tried miscreants to Vrindavan and to the residents in many ways. Finally, he, once failed to do that, realized that Lord Krishna is protecting this Vrindavan in a mystical way and he eventually, will be defeated, surrendered to Krishna.
In this festival in Vrindavan, devotees cook various delicious food, arrange to offer them in front of the Deities in the form of Govardhan Hill, which is called Anna-kuta (the mountain of grains). The festival is celebrated just after the next day of Diwali (One of the greatest festivals in India).
On this occasion, the sweets and halvah (one kind of food) are also offered but in a unique way, especially at ISKCON. Devotees make a replica of Govardhan Hill by the sweets and halvah and to make it more realistic that they sometimes place a Govardhan Shila on the Top of the Hill. Devotees worship and ecstatically circumambulate Govardhan Hill. At last, all the food items are served among the devotees like a magnificent feast.
Updated: 31st December, 2021