ISKCON to organise Sri Jagannath Rath Yatra in Visakhapatnam on June 7
The Hindu
ISKCON Visakhapatnam to host Sri Jagannath Rath Yatra with chariots, cultural performances, and special dishes on July 7.
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Visakhapatnam, will organise ‘Sri Jagannath Rath Yatra’, in the tradition of Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra, on the ‘Aashada Shukla Dvitiya Tithi’ on Sunday (July 7).
There will be three separate chariots for Sri Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra in a single procession. The 37-foot high chariots are specially built with mechanised collapsible canopies. The Rath Yatra will start from the VUDA Park on the Beach Road at 4 p.m. and will pass through RK Beach, Kali Mandir, Ramakrishna Mission and All India Radio (AIR) before concluding at Gurajada Kalakshetram at Siripuram.
The colourful canopies for the chariots have been specially brought from Pippli in Odisha. A special miniature rath will carry the vigraha murti of Srila Prabhupad, the founder Acharya of ISKCON.
Artiste groups from Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal would sing kirtans and dance before the chariot of Sri Jagannath, all along the route.
At Gurujada Kalakshetram, spiritual discourses on Lord Jagannath and cultural programmes would be organised. Over 500 varieties of special dishes would be offered to the deity on stage, and the ‘prasadam’ would be served to the devotees. It would be followed by ‘Maha Sandhya Arati’ with 108 lamps. The programme would conclude with dinner ‘prasadam being served for all the devotees at Gurajada Kalakshetram, ISKCON president Samba Das told a media conference here on Friday.
Union Minister of Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Home Minster Vangalapudi Anita, Visakhapatnam MP M. Sribharat, MLAs Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu, Vamsi Srinivas Yadav and P.G.V.R. Naidu would participate as guests.