6th Sri Jagannath Ratha Yatra Medan, Indonesia.
On the 25th of January 2020 devotees of Indonesia held the first Ratha Yatra of the year and decade in North Sumatra, Medan. Devotees attended from different parts of Indonesia including Bali, Jakarta and Sulawesi bringing various aromatic flowers and tasty fruit for the pleasure of Jagannath. The chariot team arrived from Surabaya a day before the festival and assembled the chariot during the night.
“Make the Ratha-yatra festival very great success. This will be a great introduction in your city and people will appreciate it”. SPL to Syamasundara, 4th May, 1967
The leader of Sri Jagannath Mandir, Medan; HG Maniram das expertly coordinated and inspired all the devotees in their respective services. Various services were required such as making garlands, cutting vegetables and decorating the chariot. The Ratha Yatra festival has become so popular in Medan that locals from various faiths and beliefs came to lend a hand with the services required!
‘In Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement everyone is a preacher, whether man or woman, it doesn’t matter…Everyone should go out.’ SPL to Karanadhara, 6th October 1973
The event started around 6pm. The guests and VIPs began to arrive. The leader of the Hindu Temple in Medan, Leader of Hindu Parisad in Medan and Leader of the Hindu Counsellor of Deliserdang, Medan and Hindu society in Medan were warmly welcomed and seated on special seats. After the evening arati was performed there were short speeches by Maniram das and Adi-prana das (Co-ordinator of Jagannath Ratha yatra Nusantara, Indonesia). Some of the VIP guests also delivered short speeches glorifying the efforts of the devotees in putting together this festival.
Cultural dances were offered to the Lord and the procession was ready to start. Around 300 enthusiastic devotees pulled the ropes of the chariot whilst chanting the holy names of Jagannath. The entire journey took just less than 2 hours. Devotees distributed Srila Prabhupada’s books to the locals in Medan. Arriving back at the temple prasad was distributed to all.
“I thank you all very much for making the Ratha-yatra festival so successful. Please convey my gratitude to all the boys and girls who participated in this great transcendental service.” SPL to Upendra, 4th July 1968
We would like to take this opportunity to offer our ever grateful obeisances to HH Kavichandra Swami and HH Ramai Swami, the GBCs of Indonesia, for their kind support and encouragement in accessing new avenues for sankirtan.
Our humble obeisances to HH Subhag Swami for his inspiration and always reminding us of the importance of the Sankirtan movement of Mahaprabhu and for inspiring us with the dedication of Sriman Jayananda Prabhu, for bringing us closer to Srila Prabhupada and keeping us united in the family of ISKCON.
More photos: https://is.gd/FQxuD5