Annapurneshvari · The giver of food · The queen of Kashi

Annapurna

Annapurna Devi, a form of Goddess Parvati, is the goddess of food, who holds a ladle and a vessel that never runs empty. Say her verse before meals, keep her days at Kashi and at home, and see when Annapurna Jayanti falls in your city.

Her day
Friday
Next: Fri 6 Nov
Next Annapurna day
Dhanteras at her Kashi temple
In 5 days · Fri 6 Nov

Darvi, in her right hand

Ladle

In her images she holds a ladle in her right hand, of gold set with jewels in the old descriptions. With it she serves food to all who come to her, and it is the sign most often seen with her, beside her vessel.

About Annapurna →

Kashi on the Ganga, with the spire of her temple beside Vishwanath’s, drawn as a picture rather than a plan. Tap a sign, or its name, to read what it holds. Her ladle is lit first. The ladle and the vessel are what she holds in her images; the alms bowl, rice, the hearth and Kashi come from her story and her worship.

Her days, in your city

Dates and puja times for the city you pick

For New Delhi

Next Annapurna day · In 5 days

Dhanteras at her Kashi temple

Friday 6 November 2026

Her temple in Kashi opens its treasury and shows its gold image of her, from this day until Annakut.

Dhanteras →Full panchang for this day →

Every Friday
Fri 6 NovHer day of the week
Annakut
Tue 10 Nov
Akshaya Tritiya
Sun 9 May5:35 am to 9:04 am

Sing the Annapurna Stotram

Annapurna Stotram · the close of its first verse

Praleyachala vamsha pavanakari Kashipuradhishvari,
Bhiksham dehi kripavalambanakari Matannapurneshvari.

You who bless the line of the snowy mountain, queen of the city of Kashi: give me alms, Mother Annapurneshvari, you who hold out your grace for us to lean on.

Adi Shankara’s hymn to her: each of its verses ends by asking her for alms, and this first one names her the queen of Kashi. The whole hymn, in Devanagari and English letters, is on its own page.

Sing the whole aarti

Her prayers

A simple Annapurna puja

Goddess Annapurna is worshipped above all on Annapurna Jayanti, and her verse is said before meals every day. At home a short and quiet puja is enough. Follow your family’s way where it differs.

  1. Clean the kitchen and the place of worship, and set her picture there on a clean cloth.
  2. Light a ghee lamp and incense before her.
  3. Offer flowers, kumkum and a handful of uncooked rice.
  4. Offer freshly cooked food, rice or kheer, as naivedyam.
  5. Say her verse, Annapurne sadapurne, and wave the lamp in aarti.
  6. Share the prasad, and give food to someone in need.

What you need

  • A picture of Goddess Annapurna
  • A ghee lamp and incense
  • Flowers and kumkum
  • Uncooked rice
  • Freshly cooked food, rice or kheer, for naivedyam

Prayers for the puja

Who is Annapurna

Goddess Annapurna, Annapurna Devi, is the goddess of food and nourishment, a form of Goddess Parvati. Her name means full of food, and she is the mother who feeds the world. Her images show her holding a ladle in one hand and a vessel of food in the other, and many show Lord Shiva before her, holding out a bowl for alms.

Her home is Kashi, Varanasi, where she is honoured as the queen of the city beside Lord Shiva as Vishwanath, its king. The story of Kashi tells how Shiva himself came to her door there for food, and Adi Shankara’s Annapurna Stotram calls her Kashipuradhishvari, the queen of the city.

Families honour her in the kitchen and at the table. Before a meal many say her verse, asking her for the alms of knowledge and detachment, and on Annapurna Jayanti, the full moon of Margashirsha, they fast, worship her and give food to others. Her temples stand from Kashi to Horanadu in Karnataka, Cherukunnu in Kerala and Kathmandu in Nepal.

  • Annapurna Devi the goddess Annapurna
  • Mata Annapurna Mother Annapurna, as devotees call her
  • Annapurneshvari the queen Goddess Annapurna, as each verse of her stotram calls her
  • Kashipuradhishvari the queen of the city of Kashi
  • Annapoorneshwari as her temples in Karnataka and Kerala name her
Her mantra

अन्नपूर्णे सदापूर्णे शङ्करप्राणवल्लभे। ज्ञानवैराग्यसिद्ध्यर्थं भिक्षां देहि च पार्वति॥

Annapurne sadapurne Shankara pranavallabhe, jnana vairagya siddhyartham bhiksham dehi cha Parvati

Annapurna, ever full, dear to Shankara as his own life: Parvati, give me alms, that I may gain knowledge and detachment. The verse comes near the close of Adi Shankara’s Annapurna Stotram, and many say it before a meal.

हे अन्नपूर्णा, सदा भरी रहने वाली, शंकर को प्राणों से प्रिय: हे पार्वती, ज्ञान और वैराग्य की सिद्धि के लिए मुझे भिक्षा दीजिए। यह श्लोक आदि शंकराचार्य के अन्नपूर्णा स्तोत्र के अंत के पास आता है, और कई लोग भोजन से पहले इसे बोलते हैं।

A short prayer to start · the last verse of the Annapurna Stotram

Mata cha Parvati devi, pita devo Maheshvarah,
Bandhavah Shivabhaktashcha svadesho bhuvanatrayam.

My mother is the goddess Parvati, my father the god Maheshvara; my kin are the devotees of Shiva, and my homeland the three worlds.

Her days, and her place in the kitchen

When and where families honour her

  • Annapurna Jayanti

    The full moon of Margashirsha, in December, is kept as the day Goddess Parvati appeared as Goddess Annapurna. Devotees fast, worship her, keep the kitchen clean and honour food, and give food to those who need it.

  • Dhanteras to Annakut

    At her temple in Kashi a gold image of her is shown only in the days from Dhanteras to Annakut. On Dhanteras the temple opens its treasury and gives coins to devotees as prasad, and at Annakut it is heaped with food offered to her.

  • Akshaya Tritiya

    Some hold Akshaya Tritiya, the third day of the bright half of Vaishakha, to be her birthday, and at Horanadu in Karnataka it is, with Navaratri, the day of the greatest crowds.

  • Before every meal

    Many families say her verse, “Annapurne sadapurne”, before eating, as they say the Gita’s Brahmarpanam, so that the food is received as her gift.

  • Fridays

    Friday is given as her day of the week. It is less widely kept than her days in the year, and families follow their own custom.

What her symbols mean

  • The ladle

    The darvi in her right hand, with which she serves food to all who come to her.

  • The vessel of food

    Held in her left hand and ever full, as her name and her verse say.

  • The alms bowl

    Held out to her by Lord Shiva in Kashi, in the story her images often show.

  • Rice and grain

    Anna, food itself, which is held sacred as her gift and offered to her heaped at Annakut.

  • Kashi

    Her city, where she is the queen beside Vishwanath, its king.

  • The full moon of Margashirsha

    The night of Annapurna Jayanti, her birthday, in December.

Her stories

Shiva at her door in Kashi

Once, the story goes, food vanished from the world and famine spread, until even Lord Shiva and his followers went hungry. In one telling Shiva had called the world, its food and all, an illusion, and Goddess Parvati withdrew to show what the world would be without her. Shiva came to Kashi, where one kitchen still had food, and held out his bowl as a beggar. Parvati, as Goddess Annapurna, filled it with her own hands, and food came back to the world.

The alms Shankara asked for

Adi Shankara wrote the Annapurna Stotram to her as the queen of Kashi. Each of its verses ends by asking her for alms, and near its close he says what alms he wants of her: knowledge and detachment.

The treasure of Dhanteras

At her temple in Kashi a gold image of Goddess Annapurna is kept from view for most of the year and shown only in the days from Dhanteras to Annakut. On Dhanteras the temple opens its treasury, and devotees gather for the coins it gives out as prasad.

Across India

Uttar Pradesh

In Varanasi her temple beside Kashi Vishwanath shows its gold image from Dhanteras to Annakut, gives coins from its treasury on Dhanteras, and is heaped with food at Annakut.

Karnataka

At Horanadu, on the Bhadra in the Western Ghats near Kalasa, the temple of Annapoorneshwari serves free meals to every pilgrim, whatever their faith; Navaratri and Akshaya Tritiya bring its greatest crowds.

Kerala

At Cherukunnu, near Kannur, she is worshipped as Annapoorneshwari, the mother goddess who drives away hunger.

Nepal

In the old market of Asan in Kathmandu her temple watches over the neighbourhood, and keeps a full pot, the purna kalash, in place of an image.

Across India

Before a meal many families say her verse from the Annapurna Stotram, or the Gita’s Brahmarpanam, and food given to the hungry, annadana, is counted among the highest gifts.

Her temples

  • Annapurna Devi MandirVaranasi, Uttar Pradesh
  • Sri Annapoorneshwari Temple, HoranaduHoranadu, Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka
  • Sri Annapoorneshwari Temple, CherukunnuCherukunnu, Kannur, Kerala
  • Annapurna Temple, AsanAsan, Kathmandu, Nepal

Questions

When is Annapurna Jayanti in 2026?

Annapurna Jayanti, her birthday, is on Wednesday 23 December 2026 in New Delhi. Pick your city at the top of this page for its own date and muhurat.

Who is Annapurna Devi?

The goddess of food and nourishment, a form of Goddess Parvati, the wife of Lord Shiva. Her name means full of food. She holds a ladle and a vessel of food, and is worshipped above all in Kashi, Varanasi, as the queen of the city.

Why did Lord Shiva ask Goddess Annapurna for alms?

When food vanished from the world, the story goes, Lord Shiva came to Kashi as a beggar, and Goddess Parvati as Annapurna filled his bowl with her own hands. In one telling it followed his saying that the world and its food were an illusion. Her images often show him before her with his bowl.

What is the Annapurna mantra said before meals?

“Annapurne sadapurne Shankara pranavallabhe, jnana vairagya siddhyartham bhiksham dehi cha Parvati”: Goddess Annapurna, ever full, dear to Shankara as his own life, give me alms, that I may gain knowledge and detachment. It comes near the close of Adi Shankara’s Annapurna Stotram.

Where is the Annapurna Devi Mandir?

In Varanasi, a few steps north-west of the Kashi Vishwanath temple, in the lanes above the Ganga. It was built by the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao in the 1720s, and keeps a gold image of her that is shown only in the days from Dhanteras to Annakut.

Why is Annapurna Jayanti kept?

It is kept as the day Goddess Parvati appeared as Goddess Annapurna, on the full moon of Margashirsha, in December. Devotees fast, worship her, honour food and the kitchen, and give food to others. Some hold Akshaya Tritiya to be her birthday instead.

Is Annakut linked to Goddess Annapurna?

At her temple in Kashi it is: on Annakut, the day of Govardhan Puja after Diwali, the temple is heaped with food offered to her, and it is the last of the days its gold image is shown. Elsewhere Annakut is kept mostly for Lord Krishna and the hill of Govardhan.

Which day is Goddess Annapurna’s?

Friday is given as her day of the week; her great days in the year are Annapurna Jayanti, Dhanteras and Annakut at Kashi, and Akshaya Tritiya. Follow your family’s custom.

What is the Horanadu temple known for?

The temple of Annapoorneshwari at Horanadu, on the Bhadra river in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, serves free meals to every pilgrim, whatever their faith, and its greatest crowds come at Navaratri and Akshaya Tritiya.