New York City Gujaratis celebrate New Year with Govardhan Puja and Annakut

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More than five thousand Gujaratis in the New York City celebrated New Year and Govardhan Puja including the Annakut at the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Flushing on Saturday, November 1, 2024.

Gujaratis celebrate the Govardhan Puja with early morning preparations of a number of dishes which are first offered as Annakut to deities and to a replica of Govardhan.

The BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Flushing, NY, holds the largest Annakut in New York City for the past 50 years and attracts a large number of people including non-Gujaratis and non-Indians who gather to witness the wonderful decoration of dishes at the altar.

This year, more than 1100 dishes were prepared by the temple kitchen and by devotees at their homes. A specialty of the Annakut at the Mandir was the one hour Shakotsava which consisted of close to 400 vegetable and fruit dishes. The dishes displayed in front of the altar were taken away after the noon arati to be safely put away in cold storage in the Kitchen, said Dr. Vipul Patel, BAPS Outreach and Public Affairs Administrator, to News India Times.

Other dishes included eggless cakes, a vast variety of Gujarati sweets, dry snacks, and ‘farsan’ or savory dishes. The New Year celebration began early at the temple with priests and ascetics performing special morning puja and arati and offering samples of the dishes at the altar. The dishes are then decorated in a huge artistic display by them with help of volunteers. The early visitors begin to start coming in with waves of large groups coming through the day. “At the end of the new year day, we had about 5000 visitors.” Patel said.

A huge attraction to the young generation and children was the free feast in the dining hall in the temple basement, where one could eat Pani Puri, Nacho Cheese, Pizza, Pav Bhaji, Khichu, and drink water, juices, or sodas. Although onions and garlic are prohibited in the temple kitchen, the food was one of the most delicious available in NYC. Hot sheera or semolina halwa was the sweet everyone seemed to be enjoying. “We had our last arati at 6:00 pm and then followed a free complete dinner,” said Patel. He said that the kitchen volunteers packed more than 500 take- home food boxes from the offerings for people to take home.

Govardhan Puja is said to have begun with Krishna lifting Mountain Govardhan on his little finger for people to take shelter from the rains.

Thousands of years before the 21^st century earth began talking of ecology and preserving nature or biodiversity, Krishna initiated the worship of the mountain Govardhan and nature, according to mythology. Taking shelter from incessant rains in the shade of Mount Govardhan, residents of Gokul began the modern day environment conscious nature worship, which, in a dark period of human history, was considered witchcraft. Gujaratis have been celebrating Govardhan Puja for hundreds of years.

The Annakut also attracted many city officials, council members, assembly members and senators, including Edward Goldstein, Managing Associate General Counsel from the Government office of the General Counsel; Congresswoman Grace Meng; Assembly member Nily Rozik; Council Member Sandra Ung; former Council Member Peter Koo, visited the Annakut at the BAPS mandir, with citations from the city. They all expressed their love for Diwali and taste of the Annakut items.

Gujaratis are alone in celebrating New Year the day after Diwali. They use the Vikram Samvat LuniSolar calendar established in 56 BCE by the emperor Vikramaditya of Ujjain, this year marks the beginning of Vikram Samvat 2081. Gujarati New Year falls in the Shukla Paksha of the month of Kartik which begins the day after Diwali in October or November.