DETROIT, MI: Hundreds of Lord Jagannath devotees will throng the streets of Novi in Michigan to pull by rope a four-storied tall 40-foot decorated chariot as part of Festival of the Chariots (Rath Yatra) parade slated for Saturday July 20.
This will be the 28th annual Rath Yatra from the temple and it is expected to be attended by many including Mayor Bob Gatt. Festivities are planned for about seven hours and about 7,000 attendees are expected to take part. It is like getting a taste of India and Hinduism without leaving Michigan.
Hosted by the Detroit based International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), this three-mile interactive colorful procession will start from Novi Civic Center and end at the festival site at Fuerst Park, which will feature 20-plus tents with various forms of entertainment, free lunch, dancing, live music, cooking demonstrations, henna, Vedic culture and arts and kids’ activities.
Four-hour live outdoor kirtan (devotional chants) in the Park with the tagline “Energize the body, free the mind, and feed the soul!” and featuring renowned kirtan-singers from India and USA will form part of the festivities. Audience is encouraged to participate by singing/chanting, clapping and dancing; Festival announcement says and adds that Kirtan “connects with God” and “is a scientific study in the pursuit of happiness”.
ISKCON in Chicago too had its own Rath Yatra last month in Loyola Park and it was attended by hundreds of devotees seen chanting dancing and actively pulling Lord Jagannath Chariot. Chicago area businessmen, community leaders and media colleagues besides Ald Joe Moore attended the six hours long event which culminated with Prasad and prayers, said Vrishabhdas, an Iskconite for years.
Rath Yatra is said to be the oldest known parade in the world and it is believed that the pullers of Lord Jagannath’s chariot receive immense spiritual benefit. Popularized outside India by ISKCON founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, this annual parade festival has reportedly been held annually in over 50 major cities in USA, Canada, Europe, etc., since 1960s.
The original Ratha Yatra is held on a grand scale in Puri, Odisha, where the presiding deities of Sri Mandira – Jagannatha, Balabhadra and Subhadra – with celestial wheel Sudarshana are driven on the chariots for about two miles to north Gundicha temple. After a stay for seven days, the deities return to their abode in Sri Mandira.
Detroit has an ISKCON Temple (Devasadan Mandir) and Bhaktivendanta Cultural Center situated on four acres of formal gardens with roving peacocks, which was reportedly jointly purchased by Alfred Brush Ford (great-grandson of Henry Ford) and Elisabeth Reuther Dickmeyer (daughter of United Auto workers President Walter Reuther) in 1975.
Ashok Jain & Suresh Shah
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