Mangalore: Devotees Draw Krishna-Balarama Chariot at ISKCON Rathayatra
Pics by Dayananda Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (RS/SB)
 
Mangalore, Jan 9: Devotees and members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) drew the decorated lord Krishna - Balarama’s chariot on the streets of the city as part of the ritual to mark its seventh annual Ratha Yathra on Saturday January 9.

The inauguration  of the Ratha Yathra was  held at the  A B Shetty hall , near  Bunts hostel, by Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, south regional chief of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in the presence of  Ajith Kumar Rai Malady, president, Federation of World Bunts’ Association and Madhu Pandita Dasa, president of ISKCON.

The chariot was drawn by the devotees on the streets of the city which began from the Bunts hostel circle. According to the organizers, devotees from other cities including those from the state of Kerala also participated in the event. A total of 18,000 packets of burfi (sweetmeat) and puliogare (tamarind rice) were distributed to the devotees during the occasion as prasadam. 
 
The chanting of Hare Krishna hymns and bhajans accompanied by the sound of cymbals and mridangams, played by the members of ISKCON heightened the religious fervour of the devotees drawing the chariot. The rathayatra was organized by the ISKCON to commemorate the journey of Krishna and Balarama to Vrindavana.