Gopashtami

There is a day in Kartik that belongs entirely to the cows, and to a boy who wanted to walk out with them.

Gopashtami is the day Krishna stopped being a vatsapa, a keeper of calves, and became a gopa, a cowherd. Until then he had been considered too small for the herd and was given the calves to mind. On this day Nanda Maharaj handed him the cows.

When Gopashtami falls

Kartik shukla ashtami, seven days after Govardhan Puja. Both the general reckoning and the Vaishnava calendar agree in both years, and no fixed puja muhurat is published, because this one is kept across the whole day rather than at a moment.

What the scriptures say

The event is in the Bhagavata Purana, at the opening of chapter 15:

"When Lord Rāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa attained the age of paugaṇḍa [six to ten] while living in Vṛndāvana, the cowherd men allowed Them to take up the task of tending the cows. Engaging thus in the company of Their friends, the two boys rendered the land of Vṛndāvana most auspicious by imprinting upon it the marks of Their lotus feet."

Bhagavata Purana 10.15.1

And the day itself is named in the Padma Purana's Kartika-mahatmya, quoted in the purport to that verse:

śuklāṣṭamī kārttike tu smṛtā gopāṣṭamī budhaiḥ

"The eighth lunar day of the bright fortnight of the month of Kārttika is known by authorities as Gopāṣṭamī. From that day, Lord Vāsudeva served as a cowherd, whereas previously He had tended the calves."

Padma Purana, Kartika-mahatmya

That is an unusually clean pair. The Bhagavata gives the event; the Padma Purana gives the day.

One detail from the purport that Braj has never let go of. The word padaih, footprints, is there because he blessed the earth by walking it barefoot, and the girls of Vrindavan spent the day anxious about his soft feet on the thorny forest floor. Yashoda worried too. It is the whole tenderness of the festival in a single word.

Radharani's lotus feet

The most loved thing about this day in Vrindavan happens in the temples.

On Gopashtami, Radharani goes out with the herd too, and she goes dressed as a gwala, a cowherd boy: dhoti, kurta, a turban, a rope in her hand. Because she is dressed that way rather than in her usual full dress, her feet are uncovered.

So on this one day of the year, many temples in Vrindavan give darshan of her lotus feet. On every other day they are covered. Devotees travel for it.

Worth keeping straight, because the two get confused: the famous once-a-year charan darshan at the Shri Ji temple in Barsana is on Radhashtami, not on Gopashtami. The Gopashtami feet darshan is a Vrindavan and Gaudiya temple practice.

How the cows are worshipped

The observance is go-puja and go-seva together, and it follows a shape that has not changed much.

• Bathe and clean the cows and calves early, before sunrise.
• Tilak on the forehead with roli, kumkum and haldi. Some paint the horns.
• Garland and dress them with flowers and cloth, nothing that will trouble them.
• Offer aarti with a ghee lamp, incense and flowers, with bhajan and kirtan in the goshala.
• Feed them green fodder and grass, then jaggery, fruit, gram and sweets.
• Wash the cow's feet and walk around her, a parikrama.
• Walk with the herd a little way, as Krishna did that first morning.
• Take the dust of the hooves and wear it as tilak.

When the cows come home in the evening a lighter puja is done to receive them.

The part that lasts beyond the day is go-dana: cleaning the goshala, brushing the cows, and giving toward fodder and veterinary care. ISKCON Vrindavan lets devotees sponsor go puja for a single cow or calf, or donate grass, jaggery and bran. That is the version of this festival that keeps working in February.

Where Braj keeps it

Nandgaon is the heart of it, kept as the place Krishna first took the herd out, with a gau-charan lila and a procession through the village.

Vrindavan decorates its goshalas with flowers and rangoli, and the temples do go-puja with aarti and parikrama around the cows, with katha on Krishna as Gopala. Mathura, Barsana, Govardhan and Shrinathji at Nathdwara all keep the day.

Keeping it at home

Not everyone has a cow, and the day still works.

Go to a goshala, take fresh grass and jaggery with you, and feed the cows by hand. If there is a cow in your street, wash her, tilak her, garland her, feed her. Bathe your Laddu Gopal and dress him as a cowherd if you have that poshak. Give something toward a goshala's fodder for the year.

And read Bhagavata Purana 10.15, which is where the morning belongs.

Where this sits in the Radha Krishna year

Gopashtami comes a week after Govardhan Puja in the month of Kartik, the month Braj holds dearest. Before them, Sharad Purnima closes the monsoon in October. For the whole cycle, see the festivals of Radha Krishna.