East & NortheastPoojaAnnapurnaBengali · West Bengal
Annapurna Puja is the Bengali worship of Goddess Annapurna, the Mother as the giver of food, kept on Chaitra Shukla Ashtami (March–April) during the Basanti Puja fortnight. Homes and temples worship the golden goddess with her rice-ladle, and the day turns on the sanctity of food and the vow that no one should go hungry.
When: Chaitra Shukla Ashtami — the eighth day of bright Chaitra (March–April), within the Basanti Puja / Chaitra Navratri fortnight
Where: West Bengal — household shrines and Annapurna temples; the goddess's most famous seat is the Annapurna temple of Varanasi
Deity: Annapurna — Parvati as the bestower of food, shown with a rice-ladle and vessel, with Shiva as the seeker of alms before her
Observance: Puja of the goddess with rice and cooked food offerings, chandipath and anjali, followed by feeding family, guests and the needy
Regional name: Annapurna Puja (Bengali) · Annapoorna Devi worship in Kashi and elsewhere
The goddess with the rice-ladle
Annapurna — 'she who is full of food' — is Parvati herself in the aspect that sustains all beings. The best-loved legend, told in the puranic lore of Kashi, relates that Shiva once declared the world, food included, to be maya, mere illusion. Parvati withdrew, and with her went all nourishment: the world starved, and even the gods went begging. Moved by the suffering, she appeared in Kashi and began feeding all who came. Shiva himself arrived with his begging bowl, and in receiving food from her hand acknowledged that matter and spirit, nourishment and liberation, are not enemies — the body must be fed for the soul to strive. Her image shows a golden goddess seated with a jewelled vessel and ladle, Shiva before her as the eternal alms-seeker. In Bengal she is worshipped as a daughter of the house, and her ashtami puja carries the simple, radical teaching that food is sacred and feeding others is worship.
How Annapurna Puja is observed
The puja falls on the ashtami of the Basanti fortnight, and in many households it is kept as the heart of that spring Durga Puja. Where there is a clay image or permanent murti of Annapurna, she receives a full puja — bathing, new cloth, flowers, sandal, lamp and incense — with recitation from the Devi Mahatmya and the Annapurna Stotra attributed to Adi Shankaracharya ('Annapurne sadapurne...'). The essential offering is food itself: uncooked rice, and a cooked bhog of rice, dal, vegetables, chutney and payesh, later shared as prasad. Many families keep a fast until the anjali. The day's second limb is anna daan, the gift of food — feeding brahmins, guests, neighbours and above all the poor, since tradition holds that Annapurna is honoured less by what is placed before her image than by what is placed before the hungry. Several old Annapurna temples of Bengal, and the famous shrine at Varanasi, see large gatherings on this day.
Keeping Annapurna Puja in Ottawa & Canada
This is among the most naturally portable of pujas, because its centre is the kitchen and the shared table. In a Canadian home, the ashtami (late March or April — check this site's panchang for the Ottawa tithi) can be kept with a picture of Annapurna in the shrine, an offering of a small bowl of rice and a home-cooked meal, recitation of the Annapurna Stotra, and a family meal eaten as prasad. The spirit of anna daan translates directly: a donation to the Ottawa Food Bank or a local food cupboard, cooking for a neighbour, or volunteering at a community meal are exact modern forms of the goddess's own work. Some families keep a jar in the kitchen into which rice or coins are added daily and given as food-charity at the year's Annapurna Puja — a lovely habit for children, teaching that no meal is taken for granted.
Questions
Who is Goddess Annapurna?
She is Parvati in her aspect as the giver of food and nourishment, classically enshrined at Kashi (Varanasi). Her name means 'full of food', and her image shows her with a vessel and ladle, serving even Shiva, who stands before her as an alms-seeker.
When is Annapurna Puja celebrated?
In Bengal, on Chaitra Shukla Ashtami, the eighth day of the bright fortnight of Chaitra (March–April), during the Basanti Puja / Chaitra Navratri period. The exact Gregorian date shifts each year with the lunar calendar.
What is the most important part of the puja?
Offering food and then giving it away. Cooked bhog is offered to the goddess and shared as prasad, and anna daan — feeding the hungry — is held to be the truest worship of Annapurna, a principle that adapts readily to food-bank donations and community meals.
Source: Bengali household and temple tradition of West Bengal, rooted in the Kashi legend of Annapurna. Regional versions may vary — this text follows the version most widely used in community worship.