Annakut Festival, also known as Goverdhan Puja, is a Hindu Festival in which devotees prepare and offer a large variety of vegetarian food to Bhagwan (God) Shri Krishna as a mark of gratitude.For Vaishnavas, this day commemorates the incident in the Bhagavata Puran when Bhagwan Shri Krishna lifted the Govardhan Hill to provide the villagers of Vrindavan shelter from torrential rains. The incident is seen to represent how God will protect all devotees who take singular refuge in him. Devotees offer a mountain of food, metaphorically representing the Govardhan Hill, to God as a ritual remembrance and to renew their faith in taking refuge in God. The festival is observed by most of Hindu denominations all over India and abroad. For Vaishnavas this is one of the important festivals. The Annakut festival occurs on the first lunar day of Shukla Paksha (bright fortnight) in the Hindu calendar month of kartik, which is the fourth day of Deepavali (Diwali), the Hindu festival of lights. Source: Wikipedia

Annakut Festival is celebrated in many temples in West Bengal. In this gallery, I have documented the Anaakut Festival celebrated in the Madanmohan Temple of Shovabazar, Kolkata in 2018. Hundreds of devotees throng the temple from the morning coming from suburban small towns and villages. They fast for the whole day, until they gather the Anna ( Rice ) which is given to God. They eat a handful of this rice in the late afternoon to break their fast. These set of images captures the different moods and activities of the devotees during the festival.