Chariot fest

[Guest guest]

What: Chariot Fest

Where: Krishna Temple, 8628 S Main St., Spanish Fork, Utah 84660

When: Saturday, June 26th at 5 pm

Contacts: Caru and Vai 798-3559/787-1510

carudas (AT) utahkrishnas (DOT) com

www.utahkrishnas.com

 

The Chariot Festival will be held Saturday June 26th at the Krishna

Temple one mile south of Spanish Fork on Main St. This festival is modeled

after the oldest ongoing festival known to man.

For the last three thousand years the Jagannatha Chariot Festival has

been observed in Puri, a town in the Indian state of Orissa. Annually in

the month of June, the town of 70,000 swells to one million population as

pilgrims arrive from all parts of India (and the world) to help pull the

gigantic Chariot of Jagannatha (Jagat=Lord, Natha=Universe, Lord of the

Universe). The chariot in Puri is built afresh each year, is five stories

high, has sixteen massive wheels, and takes hundreds of people to hand pull

it through the streets.

The festival was introduced to the western countries in 1965. Today it is

celebrated all over the world: London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Madrid, New

York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, San Francisco, Seattle,

Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, etc. Our Spanish Fork version

of this epic event will naturally be more modestly staged, yet remain true

to its content.

Familiar with the festival since birth, America¹s premier teacher of

Orissan dance, Nandita Behera, of Los Angeles, is sending four of her best

students to perform:

Rittika Roy, Nupur Behera, Reni Biswas & Seema Choksy are all high school

students and disciples of the Odissi Dance Circle. They have danced

throughout the United States.

The Dance items are as follows.....

(1) Mangalacharan: Odissi dance begins with an invocation. After the

auspicious beginning salutations are offered to mother earth, the guru, and

the audience.

 

(2) Sthayi: It is a pure dance depicting the beautiful temple sculpture of

Orissa.

 

(3) Pallabhi-Raga Sankarabharan: Pallabhi is another item of pure dance with

movements of lyrical grace. Beautiful dance passages run parallel with

rhythmic syllables sung musically.

 

(4) Hindi Bhajan (devotional song set to dance)- By Saint Tulshi Das.

 

Other elements of the celebrations will be: Film narrated by movie

actress Hayley Mills entitled, ³The Famous Chariot Festival of Puri.²

Two Plays: Drama of Savitri, the world¹s foremost chaste lady who brought

her husband back from death: The complete, unabridged 30 minute version of

the all-time favorite devotional comedy, Scholar and the Boatman. Actors in

the plays will be Karuna Manna, Sydhartha Manna, Jai Krishna Perry, Jon

Chavez, Gusseiv Hussein, & Caru Dasa.

The Timpanogas Pipe Band will give a concert of stirring bagpipe tunes

from the stage and lead the parade of Lord Jagannatha¹s horse drawn

carriage around the roads circling the temple. Festival goers are invited to

join the parade by playing musical instruments (their own or those supplied

by the temple), leading gaily decorated llamas, carrying torches, holding

flags, and/or singing and dancing. The parade will be a grand finale to the

event which starts at 5 pm.

Throughout, festival goers can purchase hot meals, consisting of curries

with homemade cheese (paneer), rice pilao, cherry hallava, Indian breads,

mango lassi etc.

There will be exhibits on the art, culture, dance styles, history, and

cuisine of India.

Admission fee is $ 3.00 adults, $ 1.00 children.

For more information contact Caru or Vai at 798-3559/787-1510 or visit

the web site www.utahkrishnas.com