Bali Daityaraja Puja

What is Bali Daityaraja Puja?

Many people know Bali Daityaraja Puja as Bali Pratipada. On this day devotees worship Bali Maharaja, the king of the daityas, who became a pure devotee of Lord Vishnu. In 2026 the puja falls on Tuesday, 10 November, together with Govardhana Puja.

Significance

Lord Vishnu appeared as Vamanadeva and begged three steps of land from Bali Maharaja, who had taken the heavenly planets from Indra. Bali gave all he had, and when no place remained for the third step, he offered his own head. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, as Srila Prabhupada translates it, Lord Brahma pleads for Bali:

This Bali Mahārāja, without duplicity, has now offered everything in the three worlds.

Srimad-Bhagavatam 8.22.23

The Lord replied that when wealth makes a person proud, He takes that wealth away as a special favour. Bali never lost his devotion, and the Lord gave him Sutala, a planet He protects Himself, as his home.

How to observe it

Read or hear the story of Bali Maharaja and Lord Vamana in the Eighth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, and consider what it means to offer Krishna everything without holding back. Go Puja, Govardhana Puja and the appearance day of Sri Rasikananda are kept on the same day.

This holy day falls in Kartik, the month of Lord Damodara, when devotees offer Him a lamp each evening and sing Damodarashtakam. Read about Kartik (Damodara) Month, and offer your own lamp from wherever you are through our Kartik Deep Daan Seva.