MINNEAPOLIS: Hindu Society of Minnesota celebrated its first Ratha Yatra last week at its new temple compound in Maple Grove, Minneapolis in presence of thousands devotees and guests.Minnesota Oriya group took the lead to build a beautiful Ratha like the Ratha of Sri Jagannath of Puri (Orissa) and had arranged food and cultural program for the gathering.Senator Satveer Chaudhary did the traditional Chherapahanra for Sri Jagannath.

Dr. Sarat Mohaptra and Hindu Mandir priests did the traditional pujas before Pahandi (procession) of Sri Sudarsan, Sri Balavadra, Maa Subhadra and Sri Jagannath. During the pujas local artists sang devotional songs and young dancer Apekshya Panda presented a temple dance. The sponsor of Sri Jagannath Temple and a founder of the Hindu Society of Minnesota, Dr SK Dash, started the procession of Sri Sudarsan followed by Sri Balavadra, Maa Subhadra and Sri Jagannath. Dr Panchannan Satpathy, the President of Nashville Temple guided the Ratha Jatra function and Dr Kabi Misra made the commentary.After Chherapahanra by Sen Chaudhary, the Ratha with all the deities was pulled around the temple.

Lingaraj Mishra built the Rath with a team of dedicated devotees who worked for months for Ratha construction. The Rath was the main attraction. Prasad (food) was prepared by the Oriya group at the temple under the leadership of Rita Mohapatra. Cultural program was arranged by Gyana Dwivedi, Arabinda Mishra and Nihar Nanda involving many talented local Oriya artists.Dr Kabi Misra, an expert on Jagannath culture spoke on the significance of Ratha Yatra and Sri Jagannath after Dr Shashikant Sane, the Chairman of the Hindu Society of Minnesota made the introduction and welcome speech. Cultural programs included artists from India - Binod Bihari Panda and Radharani Mishra along with young local artist Arpit Panda who captivated the audience with their devotional songs.

Sri Ganesh Vandana, Kanchi Abhijan and Daskathia were major attractions of the cultural program.Kakali Rath, an accomplished and well known Odissi dancer from Washington DC area received praises for her performance of Odissi dances. Kalpana and Dr SK Dash sponsored and hosted all out of the State artists, speakers and guests. Nayana Ramakrishnan, the President of the Hindu Society of Minnesota thanked the volunteers and the artists who made this Ratha Yatra event a grand success and pitched for making it an annual feature. Swapnakant Mohanty, the President of the Orissa Society of Minnesota and Anu Panda its Vice President coordinated the program with excellent support of Akshaya Panda, Narender Venkata, Rajeeb Das and J. Vijaykumar.