Here is an eye-witness account of the festivities at Nathadwara in 1989
(I know these are early by few days, but, I doing this so vaishnavs have the time to recreate some this splendour for their own Thakorjis if they want.)
Annakut is one of Pushti Marga's main festivals. It celebrates Krshna's worship of the Mount Govardhan during his Vraj Lila. Breaking with tradition, he recommended puja of Govardhan instead of Indra. Krshna argued that no one had seen Indra and benefits of his worship were rather dubious. Worshipping Govardhan-Nathji had positive and visible benefits. It was Govardhan-Nathji who protected them, gave them rain, grass, shelter etc. therefore it made sense to worship Him rather than some remote God on a golden throne in a transient heaven !
This represented one of the most significant moments in Krshna's Lilas. Besides overturning centuries of blind tradition, it showed Krshna's response to changing times. Kansa's cruel regime had left Vraj in poorer condition than in the past. Excessive taxes on all agricultural produces had meant the ordinary people and children of Vraj had to do without the basic, essential items in their diets. Except the very rich, most could not afford to give their children milk and butter or even good quality rice. Seeing this, Krshna decided it was unnecessary to pour huge quantities of butter, rice, cereals, and various other edibles in to the fire for the benefit of a God who never even bothered to show himself to the people of Vraj. Where was Indra when the people of Gokul were being bullied by the thugs of Kansa?
Krshna decided to celebrate a new festival where all the people of Vraj could benefit from their hard toil. All the food being gathered for Indra's yagna could be made in to delicious prasad (consecrated food) and after having offered it to Lord Govardhan it would be distributed to every one in Vraj, regardless of caste or creed. Krshna felt the entire community should be involved in the festivities and not just a privileged few.
As a result of such defiance of Heaven, Indra decided to drown the residents of Vraj in a tremendous flood. But, those protected by Krshna can not be destroyed so easily, the Lord decided to lift Mount Govardhan to shield the populace of Vraj from the wrath of Indra. Under the benevolent gaze of Krshna and Lord Govardhan, seven ceaseless days of torrential rain failed to make any impression on the people of Vraja. Realising his mistake, Indra came to apologise for his baseless pride. Indra than worshipped Krshna as Govinda - Universal King of cattle.
First day of the year, and Shrinathji appears in all his finery. Shringar and clothes are the same as that of Divali, suggesting continuous, cyclic, nature of time. As a special shringar of the day, He wears a "Gokarna Mukut", originally it used to be a turban with its ends flared out in a special way so as to resemble the large ears of the cows. Cowherds used to wear such turbans on special occasions. Being an especially busy day, Shrinathji gives only two public darshans, Mangala/ Sringar in the morning and Annakut darshan late at night. Haveli hums noisomely with numerous activities as everyone rushes around putting final touches to the various sevas.
Huge quantities of food is prepared and arranged in the "Doltibari", the main audience hall of ShriNathji's haveli. 2332.5Kg. of rice is used to make a representation of Govardhan-Nathji. A huge gunja, sweet cake, is placed on top to represent Lord Vishnu and four other cakes are placed at the corners to represent his four arms, thus offering protection to his devotees from all four sides. This also recalls the time when Krshna, as Govardhan-Nathji produced many hands to eat the various prasads offered to him by the people of Vraj. Nijmandir - inner sanctum -, mani kota and doltibari are submerged in various edibles. In the afternoon, Navnit-Lalji once again officiates for Shrinathji and comes to Suraj Pole with his retinue.
In the Govardhan Puja Chowk, a miniature Mount Govardhan is made of cowdung and a stone from the original Mountain is placed in a specially constructed niche, called "Giri kandara". Priests and temple servants in attendance hold a green branches of the karen tree, representing Lord Ganesh, so that the festival comes to a peaceful conclusion and without any hitches.
A Goswami worships Shri Govardhan-Nathji on behalf of Navnit-Lalji by first bathing the Lord, in his Mountain form, with various liquids poured from a gold covered conch. Offering the Lord dupa, arti, bhog and arti, the puja is concluded by ritually offering Him a paan. Nandini, along with the rest of the cows are worshipped and fed. Once the Lord retires to the inner sanctum, Nandini is brought in to the special enclosure and allowed to ritually dismantle the mountain of cow-dung.
Late at night, around 8pm., the devotees are allowed to witness the most important darshan in Pushti Marga, Annakut. Crowds swell as people from near by towns and villages also come for this momentous darshan. People waiting in the queue can take over one and a half hours to come out! The que starts at the gate of Govardhan Chowk and winds itself through the Dholipatia, through Kamal Chowk, in to Anar Chowk before entering the long hall adjacent to the main audience hall - Dolti Bari. Annakut of innumerable foods can be seen from the hall. High gratings separated the people from the prasad. Metal railings, specially installed, become essential when at the end of the darshan, tribals come to loot the prasad and often find themselves crushed in the rush as they run around, trying to get as much prasad as possible. This tradition, allowing the tribal folk of India access to the first prasad of the year, goes back to Lord Krshna’s time.
Today the Lord seems much larger than ever before. The Divine presence fills the entire inner sanctum and spills over into the main audience chamber. Shri Vitthalnathji and his wife Rukshmaniji join Shrinathji and Navnit-Priyaji for this darshan. This being one of the rare occasions when different "Nidhies" come together for public darshans. Often Vittalnathji and his wife witness the Govardhan puja from Dholi Patia, whislt still in their covered palanquin, . In keeping with Rajput tradition of "purdah", whenever the Lord travels with his beloved Swaminiji, he always does so in a covered palanquin. If on any occasion He has travelled alone, He invariably returns to his beloved's chamber before daybreak, even if it means travelling after midnight! Such is the love of the Lord for Shri Radha! Dwarkadhisji, of Kakroli, sometimes joins the party, and as he often comes alone, his servants have to make a dash for Kakroli so as to reach it before dawn.
Tribals from all over the state of Mewar come to loot the Annakut. This is a special privilege given to them since Krshna's time when the Lord himself desired to share the bounties of Annakut with all the people of Vraja. They carry away heavy pots of food and stuff their large scarfs with the rice. Many climb the ceiling high gratings to get a darshan of the Lord. Festivities over, Navnit-Lal and Vittalnathji return to the familiar comforts of home. Covered in a thick cloth of red and gold embroidery, Vittalnathji's palanquin returns with its retinue to His haveli across the Priyatem Pole - Beloved's Gate. Divine Lords are greeted at the entrance of their respective havelies by "Swasti-Vachans" from the Vedas.
After a brief darshan, the Lord retires to his bed chamber. The night still resonates with the sounds of the festivities. Servants clean up the various halls and courtyards. Priests put the Lords to bed and temple singers coax them to sleep. As the lights dim in the great haveli of the Lord, last of the devotees leave and guards secure the innumerable doors and gates of the haveli. Having re-enacted the lilas of the past, Lord too sleeps in a deep slumber, tired after a particularly busy day.
(a short extract from http://www.geocities.com/pushti_marg/divali.htm )
JSK,
B
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Annakut - New Year
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Posted - 21 October 2006 : 04:32:40
