🐄 Bachh Baras (Govatsa Dwadashi / Vasu Baras) Puja Vidhi — step by step
The household vidhi of Bachh Baras / Govatsa Dwadashi — worship of the cow and calf in the morning (a gaushala or a neighbour's cow; if none, a clay cow and calf), a milkless, knife-free meal in the day, the katha; in Gujarat and Maharashtra in the evening at godhuli.
How to do Bachh Baras (Govatsa Dwadashi / Vasu Baras) — the steps
- Morning: bathe, clean clothes; find a milch cow with her calf — at a gaushala or a neighbour's; if none, make a cow and calf of wet clay or worship a picture.
- Sankalp: 'I (name) keep the Bachh Baras / Govatsa Dwadashi vrat for the long life and happiness of my children (names); today I will take no cow's milk and nothing cut with a knife' — release the water.
- Bathing and adorning the cow and calf: wash the cow's feet, apply a tilak of turmeric, kumkum and roli (on the forehead and horns), a flower garland, a chunri or red cloth on her back, tilak and garland for the calf too; a bell for the cow (some homes); wind raw thread around the cow and calf (a thread of protection).
- Worship: akshat, flowers, lamp and incense (away from the cow), an offering of water; the food — sprouted or soaked moth beans, millet, gram, jaggery, green fodder, banana, millet roti (torn by hand); feed the cow and calf with your own hands; 'Om Surabhyai Namah' / 'Sarvadevamaye Devi Sarvadevairalankrite, Matar Mamabhilashitam Saphalam Kuru Nandini'.
- Circumambulation and prayer: 3 or 7 rounds of the cow and calf, a prayer for the children's protection, a blessing with the cow's tail (some customs); let the children touch and feed the cow and calf.
- Katha: hear the katha of Bachh Baras / Govatsa Dwadashi (below — the merchant's wife and the pond) from the eldest woman of the house; after the katha the aarti of 'Bachh Baras Mata' (Rajasthan) or of the Cow Mother.
- Food: in the day no cow's milk, curd, ghee or butter, no vegetables or fruit cut with a knife, no wheat (some homes) — millet roti or kheench, moth and gram (whole or sprouted), kadhi (buffalo curd or gram-flour buttermilk), whole vegetables (pumpkin or gourd broken by hand — some homes), whole fruit (banana, guava); one meal (many homes two meals of the same).
- Gujarat-Maharashtra (Vagh/Vasu Baras): aarti and worship of the cow and calf in the evening at godhuli, millet and jaggery for the cow; rangoli and lamps at home (the start of Diwali), traders close the ledger transactions; a milkless dinner (urad or moong, millet).
- Closing: green fodder and jaggery for the cow and calf; leftover offering to the cow; normal food the next day; on Bachh Baras the clay cow and calf are placed in water; teach the children to serve cows.
Puja samagri checklist
Adornment for the cow and calf, a feed-offering of moth, millet and jaggery, and a milkless, knife-free meal — the Bachh Baras list.
- A cow and calf (gaushala or neighbour) — otherwise a clay cow and calf or a picture of the Cow Mother; kalash (water)
- Adornment: turmeric, kumkum, roli, akshat, flower garland (marigold), red chunri or cloth, raw thread, a bell (optional), mehndi on the horns (some customs)
- Feed-offering: sprouted or soaked moth beans, millet, gram, jaggery, green fodder, banana, millet roti (torn by hand), wheat-flour laddoos (some homes)
- Puja: ghee lamp (away from the cow), incense, camphor, aarti plate, paan-supari, coconut; the 'Govatsa Dwadashi / Bachh Baras' katha booklet
- Food: millet flour, moth beans, gram, gram flour or buffalo curd (kadhi), kheench (whole wheat-millet — some homes), whole vegetables and fruit, rock salt; nothing from cow's milk
- For the children: fodder to feed the cow and calf, new clothes (some homes); a gift to a gaushala (as one can — fodder, jaggery, money)
Millet roti, moth, kadhi, kheench — no cow's milk, no knife; moth, millet and jaggery for the cow and calf
The food of Bachh Baras is its identity — no cow's milk, curd or ghee that day (it belongs to the calf), nothing cut with a knife, in many homes no wheat either (the katha) — hence millet roti or kheench, moth and gram, kadhi (buffalo curd or buttermilk), whole vegetables and fruit; for the cow and calf sprouted moth, millet, jaggery, green fodder and banana.
- Feed-offering for the cow and calf: sprouted moth beans, millet, gram, jaggery, green fodder, banana, millet roti, flour laddoos
- The family's meal: millet roti (torn by hand), whole moth curry, kadhi (buffalo curd or gram-flour buttermilk), kheench (whole wheat, millet and pulses), pumpkin or gourd (broken by hand — some homes), dal-baati without cow's ghee (some Rajasthani homes)
- Fruit: banana, guava, apple — whole or broken by hand; dry fruits
- Gujarat-Maharashtra (Vasu Baras): bajri roti, moong or urad, jaggery; no cow's milk; nothing fried (Purana rule — some homes)
- Forbidden: cow's milk, curd, ghee, butter, paneer, kheer, knife-cut vegetables or fruit, wheat (the katha — some homes), fried food (some customs), meat and alcohol
Rules — do's and don'ts
✅ Do
- Choose your region's date — Bhadrapada (Rajasthan, UP, MP) or Kartika (Gujarat, Maharashtra); both above
- Tilak, garland and feed (moth, millet, jaggery) for the cow and calf, circumambulation, katha; involve the children in serving the cow
- That day the cow's milk goes to the calf — no milk, curd or ghee; cut nothing with a knife — millet, moth, kadhi, kheench
- Give fodder, jaggery or money to a gaushala; the ill or pregnant: only puja and katha, normal food (without cow's milk)
- If no cow and calf are available, a clay image or picture — the intent matters
❌ Don't
- Cow's milk, curd, ghee or kheer, knife-cut vegetables or fruit, wheat (some homes), fried food (some customs)
- Troubling the cow and calf — tightening the rope, lamps or incense close by, forced adornment; plastic or colours the cow might lick
- Imitating or fearing the sacrifice episode of the katha — its message is 'service, not violence'; frightening the children
- Depriving the calf of milk for a show of puja; keeping children hungry in the name of the vrat
- Taking Bachh Baras (Bhadrapada) and Vasu Baras (Kartika) as one date — check your region's date
Vrat katha
The katha of Bachh Baras (the merchant's wife and the pond): a merchant had a pond dug in the village, but for years it held no water; the pandits said it would fill only with the sacrifice of the eldest son or daughter-… Read the full katha →
Frequently asked questions
When is Bachh Baras in {Y} — Bhadrapada or Kartika?
Both dates are above: in Rajasthan, UP, MP and Haryana on Bhadrapada Krishna Dwadashi (4 days after Janmashtami) as 'Bachh Baras'; in Gujarat and Maharashtra on Kartika Krishna Dwadashi (1 day before Dhanteras) as 'Vagh/Vasu Baras, Govatsa Dwadashi'. Follow your region's or family's custom.
What is not eaten on Bachh Baras, and why?
Cow's milk, curd and ghee (the calf's due that day), vegetables or fruit cut with a knife (the katha — the error of cutting the calf/wheat; a symbol of violence), in many homes wheat too; eaten — millet roti, moth, gram, kadhi (buffalo curd or buttermilk), kheench, whole fruit.
How to do the puja without a cow and calf?
Make a cow and calf of wet clay or use a picture of the Cow Mother — tilak, garland, offering, katha; place the clay images in water afterwards; visiting a gaushala with fodder and jaggery is equally valid.
For whom is the vrat — only mothers with sons?
By tradition mothers for their sons; now it is kept for all children (sons and daughters) and by the childless (wishing for a child); men and children join the cow worship.
Why are ledgers closed on Vagh Baras in Gujarat?
Vagh Baras is the first day of the Diwali festival — traders stop credit transactions and settle accounts that day (freeing themselves of debt — the folk idea of escaping the 'tiger'); new ledgers are opened with the chopda pujan on Diwali or Labh Pancham.
What is the muhurat for Bachh Baras?
In Bhadrapada (North) the cow puja in the morning to midday (sunrise to Abhijit); in Kartika (Gujarat, Maharashtra) in the evening at godhuli/pradosh — timings above; the Dwadashi tithi window above; avoid Rahu Kaal.
What is the difference between Bachh Baras and Gopashtami?
Both are cow worship — Bachh Baras / Govatsa Dwadashi is a mothers' vrat for children (Krishna Dwadashi of Bhadrapada or Kartika), Gopashtami is Kartika Shukla Ashtami — the festival of Krishna's first day of cow-herding, a gaushala celebration (not a vrat).
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