On Sunday 15 June, London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most famous landmarks were brought to life in a dazzling display of sound, music and colour, as thousands of devotees from across the country came to the streets of London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s West End to celebrate the 46th annual Rathayatra festival.<\/p>\n
Three beautifully decorated Rathayatra chariots carrying Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva and Lady Subhadra, deities from ISKCON London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Soho Street temple, began their journey in Hyde Park and were pulled by hand to greet a huge gathering of devotees, visitors and tourists in the city\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s iconic Trafalgar Square.<\/p>\n
North London MP Michael Freer, Mr S.S, Sidhu, Minister at the Indian High Commission, Atma Nivendana Maharaj and HG Jai Nitai Dasa, Temple president of ISKCON London took part in the opening ceremony of invoking auspiciousness and breaking of the coconuts in front of Lord Baladev\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chariot.<\/p>\n
After the street festival, the celebrations continued in Trafalgar Square, where isitors
\ncould sample plates of delicious free vegetarian prasad, visit a range of stalls as well as enjoy the vibrant stage show put on by devotees from temples across the country, which included classical Indian dances, soulful kirtan and a special performance of the Jagannathastakam by ISKCON Coventry. A total of over 20,000 plates of prasad were handed out in Trafalgar Square.<\/p>\n
Rathayatra is the West End\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biggest street festival, and the route takes the Lordships past some of London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most famous spots, including The Ritz, Piccadilly Circus and Nelson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Column. It was first celebrated in here in 1969, with the procession route running from Marble Arch to Trafalgar Square. This year marks 46 years of the Rathayatra festival in London.<\/p>\n
Praghosa Dasa, UK GBC Secretary said:
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Rathayatra was a resounding success, enjoyed by thousands of devotees, visitors, tourists and Londoners alike. It is a truly unique event in the city\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s calendar, bringing The Lord out to greet the city.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Speaking at the festival, Festival Organiser Titiksu Dasa, said:
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThe joy of Rathayatra is incomparable. Seeing Lord Jagannath\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cart being pulled through the streets of London by thousands of blissful devotees is awe inspiring. My sincerest gratitude goes to all those devotees, volunteers and donors who help make it possible.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Titiksu Das, Festival Organiser. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Sunday 15 June, London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most famous landmarks were brought to life in a dazzling display of sound, music and colour, as thousands of devotees from across the country came to the streets of London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s West End to celebrate the 46th annual Rathayatra festival. Three beautifully decorated Rathayatra chariots carrying Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rathayatra"],"views":7614,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}