The day following Diwali marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year, and is traditionally celebrated with the Annakut (or Govardhan), which literally means “a mountain of food”

In a gesture signifying the evolving multicultural nature of New Zealand, the New Zealand Parliament for the first-time ever hosted a – Diwali-Annakut and Hindu festivals exhibition, on November 5.

The event was organised by BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Sanstha, Auckland, and attended by Indian High Commissioner to New Zealand Muktesh Pardeshi, Minister for Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway, all three MPs of Indian-origin – Labour’s Priyanca Radhakrishnan, and National’s Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi and Parmjeet Parmar – as well as several other dignitaries.

For the uninitiated, Annakut is a grand offering of hundreds of different vegetarian food items to thank Swaminarayan for his providence over the past year and to seek his blessings for the year ahead. Similar to what Lord Krishna did when he lifted the Govardhan Mountain and urged the people of Gokul to offer thanks-giving to nature for all its gracious bounty. The celebrations, popular with Indians across the world, would normally involve an Annakut Thal, followed by the Annakut Sabha, and ending with a Mahaprasad.

Meanwhile, following the event, Radhakrishnan in a Facebook post noted, “Today, for the first time in NZ Parliament we celebrated Annakut (the festival of gratitude) and the second Diwali in Parliament for this year…huge thanks to the volunteers from BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir who have worked incredibly long hours to make this happen – and happen so beautifully.” Her words were echoed by Bakshi, who in his post said, “Today we held the first of many Diwali-Annakut celebrations here at Parliament with BAPS. I would like to thank them for a wonderful morning, and additionally, my parliamentary colleagues who joined in the celebrations.”

-TIN Bureau