Mathura Vrindavan from Kumbakonam
in October 2026

Annakut (literally 'mountain of food') is celebrated the day after Diwali at Govardhan Hill. The legend: after Krishna stopped the Indra worship and lifted Govardhan Hill to protect the Braj residents, the overjoyed cowherds and residents cooked a mountain of food to offer to the hill. Today, temples at Govardhan — particularly the Mukharavind and Manasi Ganga temples — prepare enormous quantities of 56 food items (Chhappan Bhog) arranged in a mountain form before the deity. The visual scale and devotional energy of Annakut is extraordinary.

Sharad Purnima (the autumn full moon, usually October) is the night on which, according to the Bhagavata Purana, Krishna performed the Maharaas — the divine circle dance with the gopis — at Vrindavan. The Nidhivan forest in Vrindavan (where the Raas is said to occur each full moon night) is closed to humans after sunset on Sharad Purnima. Temples in Vrindavan perform elaborate Raas Leela performances open to devotees. The full moon over the Yamuna on Sharad Purnima, viewed from the Kesi Ghat, is one of the most spiritually powerful moments in the Braj calendar.

Vrindavan's Diwali has a distinctly devotional character absent in commercial city Diwali. The illumination is primarily at the major temples — ISKCON's 54 ghee lamp aarti on Diwali night, Prem Mandir's LED light show (3 million lights on a ₹100 crore temple), and Rangaji temple's elaborate illumination. The bhajan and kirtan continue through the night on Diwali. Fireworks are present but secondary. The Yamuna ghats with floating diyas in the evening create a scene reminiscent of Varanasi's Dev Deepawali. For spiritually-oriented travelers, Vrindavan Diwali is the best in India.