Devalok
Legend · 2 tellings · North India

Krishna lifts Govardhan

Krishna talks the cowherds of Vraja out of their yearly offering to Indra and has them give it to the mountain Govardhan, which he says he is. Indra sends a storm for seven days; Krishna holds the mountain up on one hand over the herd. The feast is kept as Annakut on the day after Diwali.

Who is in it

  • Krishna says he is the mountain and lifts it
  • Indra sends the storm, then names Krishna Govinda
  • Nanda explains the offering to Indra
  • Govardhan the mountain that is fed

Places: Govardhan, Vraja · Texts: Vishnu Purana, Bhagavata Purana

The story, beat by beat

  1. In autumn the cowherds prepare their offering to Indra; Krishna asks Nanda what it is for.
  2. Krishna argues that cowherds live by cows and forests and should worship the cattle and the mountain, not Indra.
  3. The cowherds give the offering to Govardhan; Krishna appears on the summit saying he is the mountain and eats it, while also worshipping it in his own form.
  4. Indra sends the Samvartaka clouds; Krishna lifts the mountain on one hand and shelters Vraja beneath it for seven days.
  5. Indra withdraws the clouds, comes to Krishna on Airavata and names him Govinda, Indra of the cows.

pride shelter cows festival

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Vishnu Purana V.10 to 12

North India Vaishnava

In autumn Krishna finds the cowherds preparing a sacrifice to Indra. Nanda explains that Indra sends the rain. Krishna answers that they are neither farmers nor traders but forest wanderers in wagons whose gods are their cows and the mountains, whose spirits can turn into lions; let them worship Govardhan and the cattle. They offer curds, milk and flesh to the mountain, feed the brahmans and walk round the cows; Krishna appears on the summit saying 'I am the mountain' and eats, while in his own form he climbs and worships his other self. Indra sends the Samvartaka clouds to kill the cattle; Krishna plucks up Govardhan, holds it with one hand like an umbrella and shelters all Gokula for seven days and nights, then sets it back. Indra comes on Airavata, admits he sent the storm, and at the cows' wish anoints Krishna as Upendra and names him Govinda.

The Vishnu Purana, tr. H. H. Wilson (1840), Book V, chapters 10 to 12, sacred-texts.com § 5.10; The Vishnu Purana, tr. H. H. Wilson (1840), Book V, chapters 10 to 12, sacred-texts.com § 5.11; The Vishnu Purana, tr. H. H. Wilson (1840), Book V, chapters 10 to 12, sacred-texts.com § 5.12

Primary text (translation)

Bhagavata Purana 10.24 and 25, and the Annakut of Braj

North India · Braj (Mathura and Vrindavan) Vaishnava 🪔 Govardhan Puja

Krishna asks his father whether the sacrifice to Indra rests on scripture or on custom, argues that karma and nature, not Indra, decide what happens, and asks for the goods gathered for Indra to be used for the cows, the brahmins and Govardhan: sweet rice, vegetable soups, cakes baked and fried, every milk product, food for everyone down to the dogs, grass for the cows. Krishna takes a huge form, says 'I am Govardhan' and eats the offerings. Indra, calling Krishna an overtalkative child, sends the clouds of dissolution with hail; Krishna lifts the hill with one hand as easily as a child holds a mushroom, tells his mother and father to come under it with the cows, and holds it seven days without food or sleep. In Braj the day after the Diwali new moon is kept as Govardhan Puja and Annakut, a mountain of cooked food offered to Krishna, with Govardhan modelled in cow dung.

What is different here:

Krishna argues from karma rather than livelihood; the offering is a cooked feast, the source of Annakut; the mountain is held like a mushroom.

Srimad Bhagavatam 10.24 and 10.25, tr. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Vedabase § 10.24.26; Srimad Bhagavatam 10.24 and 10.25, tr. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Vedabase § 10.25.19; Diwali — Wikipedia; Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, adhyaya 122 (Dipavali), Sanskrit with English rendering, VedaPath § 122.29

Sources: The Vishnu Purana, tr. H. H. Wilson (1840), Book V, chapters 10 to 12, sacred-texts.com; Srimad Bhagavatam 10.24 and 10.25, tr. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Vedabase; Diwali — Wikipedia; Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, adhyaya 122 (Dipavali), Sanskrit with English rendering, VedaPath

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