24th annual Jagannath Rathayatra Mahotsav @ Baroda, Gujarat, India

[Guest guest]

Home Base: ISKCON Baroda

 

Dear Umapati Maharaj,

 

Yatibhyonamaha. Jaya Srila Prabhupada!

 

Below is a brief report with attached photos for publication on "dipika.org"

on the 24th annual Sri Jagannath Rathayatra Mahotsav held here at Baroda,

Gujarat, on July 8, 2005, "aashaadh shukla dvitiya" - "Rathayatra day".

 

Today, by the way, is the "return Rathayatra" of Lord Jagannath at Jagannath

Puri where some 1 million (10 lakhs) devotees will participate in the

celebration.

 

Thank you in advance for running the article.

 

Hope this meets you well.

 

das,

 

Basu Ghosh Das

 

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24th annual Jagannath Rathayatra Mahotsav @ Baroda, Gujarat, India

 

On Friday, July 8, 2005, ISKCON Baroda observed Sri Jagannath Rathayatra

Mahotsav on the traditional date (same as at Puri), "aashadh shukla dvitiya"

("aashaadh sud bij" in Gujarati).

 

The Rathayatra procession started at 2:30 PM on a dry day - less than a week

after torrential rains played havoc with normal life all over Gujarat - and

received a tremendous response from the public, which had just been victims

of heavy flooding that caused widespread losses, especially to many

thousands of poor people living in areas near the seasonal "Vishvamitri"

river, which overflowed for several days!

 

The Rathayatra was inaugurated by the Mayor of Baroda, as well as several

other political leaders, such as the local Member of Parliament, 3 Members

of the State Assembly (MLAs), leader of the opposition party in the Baroda

Municipal Corporation, and many Municipal Corporators and others too

numerous to mention!

 

The District Magistrate (Collector), greeted the Rathyatra outside the

Collectorate. The Police Commissioner also greeted the Rathayatra in one of

the most crowded areas of the city.

 

Thousands lined the city streets to have a "darshan" (vision) of the

procession.

 

Tons of halava prasad was distributed from trucks that followed the Ratha

cart throughout the length of the procession.

 

HH Bhakti Vikas Swami led hundreds of devotees in attendence at the

Rathayatra, and a grand kirtan continued from start to finish, for more than

5 hours!

 

After the completion of the Rathayatra, more than 15,000 members of the

public were served with full plates of prasad at the Sri Sri Radha

Shyamsundar Mandir of ISKCON Baroda. The grand feast included "lapsi"

(cracked wheat halava), puri, subji, rice, kadi, and phulwadi.

 

Since "a picture is worth a thousand words", please take a look at the

photos accompanying this article to see for yourself how grand a function

Rathayatra at Baroda is!