A name with a sweet story

The Caitanya-caritāmṛta of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī tells us that Gopāla was then living in a village named Annakūṭa, whose people were Rajput families.

Annakūṭa means, quite simply, a heap or mountain of food. A village with such a name already speaks of abundance, and of the joy of feeding the one we love.

In the Bhakti-ratnākara (Fifth Wave), Narahari Cakravartī describes this place as somewhere the gopas and gopīs shared wonderful pastimes with Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and says that for this reason it is also called Āniyora. It is also where the Annakūṭa festival was celebrated.

The text invites Śrīnivāsa to look upon the place, and says that whoever sees it has every longing fulfilled. Another verse points to the dense forest beside the kuṇḍa, where Gopāla was once kept hidden away.

Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī remembers Annakūṭa in a Sanskrit verse of his Stavāvalī, where the whole scene is full of play.

In our words

Nanda, foremost among the lords of Vraja, has offered a vast feast. Kṛṣṇa, eager and delighted, takes on a great form and relishes it, beguiling even Rādhā with a boon as He eats. And the poet says: I take shelter of that Annakūṭa.

Here is Kṛṣṇa as His devotees love Him: playful, eager, entirely at home among those who feed Him with love. Simple, homely, abundant food becomes the language of affection.

At Āniyora, devotion is not austere or distant. It is a feast that is prepared, offered, shared and relished. We hope our books will be offered in the same spirit: made with care, given generously and enjoyed slowly.

Where wisdom awakens love, love sets a feast.

Sources: Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.26; Narahari Cakravartī, Bhakti-ratnākara, Fifth Wave; Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Stavāvalī, Vraja-vilāsa-stava 75. The English on this page is our own free rendering and is not taken from any published translation.