The Dev Daman Lord Krishna temple celebrated its annual Annakoota Utsavam recently in a grand manner. A number of environmentalists from Coimbatore have been celebrating this festival for the past 12 years at the holy Srinivasa Perumal Temple at Pappanaickenpalayam. The festival, it is believed, brings in copious rains, without causing havoc.

Lord Krishna, the complete incarnation of Lord Vishnu descended upon the earth in the Dwapara Yuga in order to help the people rid themselves of the evil forces that were gaining an upper hand. Krishna spent his childhood at Gokul and Vrindavan, in the company of cows, cowherds, and Gopis. The antics and endearing pranks played by Krishna are beautifully narrated in the Bhagavata Purana. He is ever present in the households which revere the Bhagavata Purana. In no other incarnation do we get to witness countless situations where the Supreme Being comes to the rescue of His devotees as in the Krishna Avatar.

The days of little Krishna are enchanting, for, on the one side, he was the darling pampered child of Yashoda and Nanda, and the companion for the Gopis, while protecting them from countless dangers. The simple cowherds of Braj Bhoomi were completely unaware of it.

One day, the cowherds of Vrindavan decided to propitiate the God of rain, Indra. They collected lots of offerings, and just when they were about to begin, Lord Krishna prevailed upon them to pray to Mount Govardhan, their provider, instead of Lord Indra. The good-hearted cowherds took Krishna’s advice and began to offer their prayers to Govardhanagiri.

On learning about this, an enraged Indra unleashed thunders, lightning, and a heavy downpour, which lasted for days. The frightened cowherds were saved by Lord Krishna, who raised the mighty Govardhanagiri on His little finger and sheltered the entire village under it.

Eventually Indra realized that he was fighting against none other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He surrendered and requested Lord Krishna to forgive him. Lord Krishna readily forgave him, and also directed Indra to bless the devotees performing a festival celebrating this occasion, with abundant rainfall.

This Leela of Krishna is celebrated as the Annakoota Utsavam, wherein a huge offering of rice, ghee, sweets, and savouries are made to Him, before being distributed to everyone.

The day begins with a 108 Kalasa Thirumanjanam, recitation of sacred verses from the scriptures, and the 4000 Divya Prabhandam. In the evening, the Vaishnavaite cooks from the Divya Desams use hand-drawn water from the well and wood as fuel to make delicious offerings to Govardhanagiridhari, during the Sri Annakoota Utsavam.

Thousands of devotees witnessed this festival and relished the prasadam, which consisted of sweet pongal, curd rice, Puliyodharai, lemon rice, Kesari, Oothapam, several sweets like Mysore Pauk, Badushah, etc., made in ghee. In fact, the crater on the mound of steaming hot rice is filled with ghee, and some sweets are dropped into it. A number of environmentalists including Vanitha Mohan of Siruthuli, Advocate N.V. Nagasubramanian, industrialist S.J. Balakrishnan, etc., attended the grand event.

The food was served by a group of Bhagavatas, and their tireless service was much appreciated. Lord Govardhanagiridhari was bedecked with flowers and jewellery, and was seen in the company of cows while holding up the Govardhanagiri.

The wonderful festival would hopefully usher in the much-needed rains and also kick start the restoration of our environment.