Gopashtami

Cattle at Gopashtami

Gopashtami falls on the eighth day of the bright half of Kartik, a little more than a week after Diwali. In the stories it is the day the boy Krishna was judged old enough to herd the cows rather than the calves, and so became Gopala, protector of cows. Across north and west India people bathe and decorate cows and calves, feed them green fodder, jaggery and chapatis, and walk round them before an aarti. Gaushalas, the shelters that keep old and unproductive cattle, hold their busiest day of the year, and many families make gifts of fodder. In Mathura and Vrindavan the temples dress Krishna as a cowherd.

The breeds

GirThe most widely kept breed in north and west Indian gaushalas.HarianaThe white cattle of Haryana and the Braj plains.SahiwalA placid red dairy breed found in many cow shelters.KankrejThe silver-grey, lyre-horned breed of north Gujarat.TharparkarThe white desert breed of the Thar.