Rathayatra chariot festival, London. A drummer walks alongside the chariot ropes
The 41st annual Sri Jagannatha Rathayatra chariot festival in London since the Hare Krishna started to celebrate it here. Dating back according to them for 5000 years it is now now celebrated in over 200 cities around the world. The chariot festival first came to the west to San Francisco in 1967, and was brought to London by a small group of disciples from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (better known as the Hare Krishna) two years later. An effigy of the founder of ISKCON, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) is also carried on one of the chariots in the festival. Rathayatra started at the Jagannatha temple in Puri, Orissa on the Indian east coast, which was built around a thousand years ago, though the festival may be older. It celebrates the time when Krishna grew up on earth and when he became a great lord moved away from his childhood friends. These cowherds visited him and tried to kidnap him and take him back to their village on a cart. The large chariots - we got the word "juggernaut" from this festival are pulled by hundreds of devotees on long ropes from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square carrying the Lord Jagannatha (Krishna), Lord Balaram and Lady Subhadra and are accompanied by singing and dancing crowds. Celebrations continue in Trafalgar Square.
Size: 5040px × 3354px
Location: London, England, UK
Photo credit: © Peter Marshall / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: balaram, celebration, chariot, consciousness, festival, hare, hindu, international, iskcon, jagannatha, krishna, lady, london, lord, rathayatra, religion, religious, society, subhadra
