One day after Diwali, Govardhan Puja is being celebrated today on Parva i.e. Pratham Tithi. This is the first festival in the five-day festival tradition, whose Vedic basis is not clear, but its beliefs have come directly from mythology. Govardhan Puja is mentioned in Shrimadbhagwat Purana, Mahabharata and Harivansh Purana.
This puja dedicated to Lord Krishna is actually a glimpse of the pure rural tradition of worship. Which is done together by a community, organization or people of one environment.
There is a reference in Mahabharata that the people of Braj (Gokul, Vrindavan, Barsana, Nandgaon) used to worship Indra on Vedic basis. With time, this Vedic worship of Indra had become very pompous and lack of faith and fear had become more prevalent in this worship. In the big Yagya rituals, milk, curd, ghee, buttermilk and even a large part of the new crop, prepared after many days of hard work, was spent in Indra Yagya.
Along with this, people also had less connection with nature, then Shri Krishna opposed this worship of Indra and advised everyone that instead of this, river, village, cattle, livestock, mother earth, trees and this sacred Govardhan mountain should be worshipped. Because river water gives life. Milk, curd and ghee are obtained for livelihood only from cow farming. Livestock work as hard as farmers so that grains can be grown. The earth produces seeds and gives grains even after bearing the tip of the plow on its chest. Trees bear fruit even after being hit by stones and Govardhan provides protection by becoming the boundary of the Braj region. Helps in rain.
Following Kishore Krishna’s advice, Nandababa and all the villagers stopped worshiping Indra. govardhan puja Did. Then the angry Devraj decided to submerge the Braj region. It rained heavily for seven days. Then Shri Krishna lifted Govardhan Mountain on his little finger and held it for the safety of the people. He stood like this for seven days and kept showing Indra’s anger and his pride.
At last Devraj Indra accepted defeat. He recognized the supreme form of Shri Krishna and then went to take refuge in him. In this way Shri Krishna won over Devraj Indra.
This story described in Harivansh Purana and Bhagwat Purana is the basis of today’s Govardhan Puja. Shri Krishna had laid the foundation of the eight-day festival. Which included festivals ranging from Govardhan Puja on the day of Parva (Prathama) to Gopashtami on the day of Kartik Shukla Ashtami. The Brajvasi celebrated the eight-day festival worshiping nature, which included food, rivers, forests, earth and their livestock.
Today Govardhan Puja is the day of remembrance of the same Girdhari form of Shri Krishna. Govardhan Parvat is now a folk deity in itself. He is also the family deity of many different families. It is also believed that Shri Krishna in his immovable form is Govardhan Mountain. From the Braj region of Mathura to the Nath tradition of Rajasthan, there is great recognition of Girdhari form, which originates from western Uttar Pradesh, reaches Rajasthan, Gujarat and then the sea coast of Maharashtra. In which whatever be the form, basically only Shri Krishna is worshipped.
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