Annapurna Ji

Annapurna, "filled with food," is the goddess of food and nourishment, worshipped at Kashi (Varanasi) as a form of Parvati who, alongside her consort Vishweshwar (Shiva), reigns as queen of the city.

Her name is itself her defining attribute: the one who is filled with, and freely gives, anna, food. Devotees invoke her simply as the giver of nourishment to every being, without distinction.

She is shown seated, holding a ladle and a bowl or pot of rice or khichdi, in the act of serving. She is often paired in imagery with Shiva, shown approaching her with a begging bowl to receive food from her hand.

Tradition holds that Shiva once told Parvati the material world, including food, was ultimately maya, illusion. Offended, she withdrew from the world entirely, and nourishment vanished with her, bringing famine to gods and mortals alike. Shiva, humbled, travelled to Kashi, where she had taken form as Annapurna, and begged food from her bowl, acknowledging that even he depends on her for sustenance.

Regarded as a form of Parvati and consort of Shiva; the two are worshipped together at Kashi, where he is honoured as Vishweshwar, "king," and she as its queen.

Her temple at Kashi, rebuilt in its present form in 1729 by the Maratha Peshwa Bajirao I, distributes prasad daily to the elderly and disabled, with much larger free distribution during Navaratri, a living, practical expression of her role as sustainer rather than only a mythic figure.

Her cult is centred on Varanasi, but she is invoked across India in everyday kitchen worship and before meals as guardian of food and nourishment more broadly.