Govardhan puja and Bhai Dooj: the two days after Diwali

When

• Govardhan puja is done in the morning or the late afternoon of 9 November; the panchang gives both windows. The Annakut offering is usually at midday.
• Bhai Dooj tilak is done in the afternoon of 10 November, in the Aparahna window of roughly 1 to 3.30 pm. Morning is accepted where the afternoon is impossible.

Govardhan puja

1. 1

   Make the hill

   A small mound of cow dung or clay in the courtyard or on a plate, decorated with flowers, small twigs as trees, and a tiny cowherd or two if the children are making it. Krishna's image beside it.

2. 2

   Annakut

   Arrange the cooked dishes around the hill in a heap: the word means mountain of food. Fifty-six (chhappan bhog) is the tradition; a family kitchen does what it can, and a full thali is enough.

3. 3

   Puja

   Light the diya, offer flowers, kumkum and akshat to the hill and to Krishna, and read or tell the story of the hill lifted on one finger for seven days. Aarti.

4. 4

   Parikrama

   Walk around the hill seven times. In Vrindavan people walk the 21 km around the real Govardhan today; at home, seven turns around the mound.

5. 5

   Eat together

   The Annakut is served to everyone as prasad. Nothing is left over by design; it is given to neighbours and to the cows.

Bhai Dooj

1. 6

   The sister prepares

   A thali with roli, akshat, a diya, sweets, a coconut and a garland. She fasts until the tilak in many families; that is a custom, not a rule.

2. 7

   The brother sits

   Facing east or north, on a clean seat or a wooden patla. The sister draws a small square (chowk) of rice flour or flowers where he sits.

3. 8

   Tilak

   Roli and rice on the forehead, a garland, the aarti, and a sweet fed by hand. In Bengal the tilak is of sandalwood paste and the sister recites a blessing against Yama.

4. 9

   The prayer

   For his long life, as Yamuna prayed for her brother Yama on this day. He, in turn, promises her protection and gives a gift.

5. 10

   The meal

   He eats at her home. Where the sister is far away, brothers send the tilak by post and video calls carry the ceremony; the meaning travels.

If there is no brother or no sister

Cousins, close family friends, and adopted siblings take the place. A woman without a brother may do the tilak to the moon, as on Karwa Chauth, or to Chitragupta's image, as in the Kayastha tradition. A man without a sister receives the tilak from a cousin or from his mother.

What usually goes wrong

• Skipping Govardhan because it feels like a Vrindavan festival. The Annakut at home is a meal cooked and shared; it needs no hill of dung, only a heap of food and Krishna's image.
• Bhai Dooj tilak done in a rush before work. The afternoon window exists; use it, or the evening.
• Treating Bhai Dooj as gifts only. The tilak and the prayer are the observance; the gift is thanks.

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