{"id":11412,"date":"2013-03-29T17:06:32","date_gmt":"2013-03-29T16:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=11412"},"modified":"2013-03-29T17:08:49","modified_gmt":"2013-03-29T16:08:49","slug":"the-2nd-sri-jagannath-rathayatra-festival-2013-in-jakarta-the-capital-city-of-indonesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=11412","title":{"rendered":"The 2nd Sri Jagannath Rathayatra Festival 2013 in Jakarta, The Capital City of Indonesia"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hari Narayana das<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Rath yatra festival has been traditionally celebrated annually in Jagannath Puri, Orrisa, where Lord Jagannath along with His sister Subhadra and elder brother Baladeva paraded through the streets of the city. This practice and festival still takes place in Puri and since the late sixties all over the world. The first Rath yatra outside India was initiated by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (founder of ISKCON) on July 9, 1967 in San Francisco. The Lord of the Universe (Lord Jagannath) now parade in major cities all over the world such as London, Paris, New York, Durban, Rome, etc.<\/p>\n

As Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu predicted, The Name of Krishna will be glorified in every towns and villages around the globe. The devotees of the Lord from around the Indonesia, have been waiting for the opportunity with eagerness and strong desire to glorify the Lord\u2019s Name in Jakarta. Since the first festival of Chariots was held in the west by the grace of Srila Prabhupada, after 45 years, now by the encouragement and blessings of Srimat Subhag Swami and the sincere efforts of a few devotees in Indonesia who took Maharaja\u2019s guidance very seriously to their hearts, for the second time Lord Jagannatha\u2019s Ratha Yatra festival was held in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia.<\/p>\n

Sri Jagannath Rathayatra, the Festival of Chariots of Lord Jagannath is celebrated to satisfy Lord Jagannath, Balarama, and Subhadra devi. The festival was held in Jakarta on March 11, 2013. Jakarta is the capital city of the Republic of Indonesia, the biggest Muslim country in the world, a country composed of more than 13,000 islands with a population of over 220 million. Comprising more than 300 ethnic groups speaking 200 different languages and the majority population being Muslim, the Indonesia population exhibits marked diversity in its linguistic, culture, and religious traditions. As the Capital City, Jakarta is inhabited representatives from each of these ethnic groups. Jakarta, once considered as primarily a stop-over to more worthwhile destinations in the country, has become a major destination in its own right. That is why His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada had placed His lotus feet in this city to spread the Krsna Consciousness movement in 1973, 40 years ago. He visited some places here and stayed in the residence of one Indian well-wisher. He also gave lecture in The Gandhi Memorial school (Today it is the Sri Nilacala Dham). Since his arrival in Jakarta, the Krsna Consciousness movement has been growing all over Indonesia. One of ISKCON\u2019s temples is Sri Nilacala Dhama, located in the heart of Jakarta.<\/p>\n

Nilacala Dhama is located in Pasar Baru. It was established in the year 1995 by His Holiness Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami Maharaja. Since then the center developed into small temple in the heart of Jakarta. Inspired and encourage by the instruction of the pure devotee of the Lord, Srila Prabhupada through his beloved disciple, His Holiness Srimat Subhaga Swami Maharaj, the devotees in Jakarta leaded by His Grace Tapana Misra prabhu and Narottama prabhu, Sudhabhajan prabhu, Ramagopal prabhu, Ketumala prabhu, bhakta Bayus, Bhakta Olik, and many others devotees, organized the festival. The devotees prepared for the Ratha-yatra festival with all of the best effort. <\/p>\n

The Rathayatra festival was held on March 11, 2013. The day before the festival devotees from all around Indonesia- Bali, Bogor, Sulawesi, Lampung, Borneo – came by train, car and flight. More than 300 devotees came to attend the festival. With their happy faces, they helped to prepare the festival. Some of them made flower garland, cooking, decorating the chariot and cleaning the temple. The committee of the festival consisted of mostly young men who have high dedication to serve Lord Jagannath.<\/p>\n

The clock showed 10.00 pm when Their Lordships were ready to go down for Ratha yatra. After the Pujaris made the necessary arrangements, the pahandi Vijay was done. The Lords then sat on the throne on the chariot. Offerings were made to the Lord before arati.<\/p>\n

Along with the guest, Indian people in Jakarta offered coconut to the Lords before the ratha-yatra started. Some Indian expressed their happiness by seeing the Lord. They also said that they just came to know on that day that there is Jagnnath temple in the heart of Jakarta. One also said that he didn\u2019t need to go to Puri every year for Ratha yatra because in Jakarta itself they can have the opportunity to participate in the festival.<\/p>\n

The chariot was pulled by devotees through the main road of Jakarta. First it passed in front Pasar Baru, the oldest market in Jakarta. Then in front of Masjid Istiqal, the biggest mosque in Indonesia and then in front of Gedung Tata Usaha Negara, were Srila Prabhupada gave lecture when he visited Jakarta. The chariot then moved and passed in front of the President\u2019s Office before entering the National Monument (Monas) area. <\/p>\n

In Monas, the chariot joined with the Balinese Ogoh-Ogoh festival. Many Balinese and local Hindus gathered there to celebrate the new year of Hindus in Indonesia. The vice governor of Jakarta, also was present for this festival. The festival was reported by many national mass media and TV station. It was also a good chance for the devotees to do book distribution and sankirtan. The committee of Ogoh-Ogoh festival gave one stall for displaying our books. Many Hindus who came to the festival were much impressed with the books displayed at our stall. Needless to say, many bought our books.<\/p>\n

The chariot with the lord took arrest under the shady tree because the temperature is so high and the heat of the sun rays was like burning the skin. When the parade was start a small accident took place. The wheels of the chariot suddenly broken. It had made worry every devotees. Many ways was done to repair the wheels. It was the Lord arrangement, somehow someone who was the member of ogoh-ogoh group and his wife was interested in Hare Krishna Movement came to help us. The Lord had other plan for this. When the parade had finished, the repairmen also finished. The Lord wanted everyone in Monas paid attention to the Lord present. It was true that every person who presented in Monas astonished in seeing the Lord on the chariot. The sky also gave it best performance with its beautiful colours. Most of the attendance who were Muslim took the Lords\u2019 picture and they were so happy listening to the Hare Krishna maha matra song by the devotees. The joy never ended until the Lord came back to the Nilacala Dham temple. <\/p>\n

On this rathayatra the devotee also celebrated the 40s years arrival of Srila Prabhupada in Jakarta. We visited some place such as Aditya jaya Rawamangun Temple where Srila prabhupada visited and gave class 40 years ago. In this place we did prayer. The authority of the temple also welcomed us with happiness. <\/p>\n

Jay Jagannatha, Baladeva, Subadra Maharani ki jay\u2026\u2026
\nJay Srila Prabhupada ki jay\u2026.<\/p>\n

Hari Narayana das
\n
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hari Narayana das<\/strong><\/p>\n

Devotees from all around Indonesia- Bali, Bogor, Sulawesi, Lampung, Borneo – came by train, car and flight. More than 300 devotees came to attend the festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11412\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}