{"id":5996,"date":"2008-06-23T20:51:48","date_gmt":"2008-06-23T19:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=5996"},"modified":"2008-06-23T21:09:01","modified_gmt":"2008-06-23T20:09:01","slug":"krishna-carnival-lights-up-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=5996","title":{"rendered":"Krishna carnival lights up London"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tKrishna carnival lights up London
\n\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"Rathayatra<\/p>\n
The chariots were pulled by rope through the streets of central London<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


\nLondoners are used to seeing juggernauts rumbling through their streets, but this was a very different kind of heavy traffic.<\/b><\/p>\n

It was a riot of colour in the heart of the capital – three 40-foot-high wooden chariots pulled from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, accompanied by a colourful crowd singing, chanting and dancing their way along the route. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Britain’s Hare Krishnas were holding their 40th annual Rathayatra Carnival of Chariots, a street festival which brings together a mixture of devotees and bemused onlookers.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe ancient ceremony originates in Jagannatha Puri in India – giving British colonial forces a new word to describe a huge, lumbering vehicle.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

‘Everyone’s happy’<\/b>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The UK Hare Krishna movement hopes the day brings a touch of fun and celebration to London’s thoroughfares.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But organiser Varsana Devi Dasi said the worshippers who used ropes to pull the three chariots – one each for the deities of Jagannatha, Subhadra, and Balarama – did not face an easy task.\n<\/p>\n

\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n\n
\n\t\t\t \"Praghosa\n\t\t\t <\/div>\n
\n
\n\t\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\tWe just want everyone to have a good time<\/b>
\n\t\t\"\"
\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Praghosa Das<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\t\t\t <\/p>\n

“It’s quite an effort to pull them – the chariots are huge,” he added.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

“The wheels are made by the same wheelsmiths who make the Queen’s carriages.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n“But everyone’s happy to help out – it’s a lot of fun and you always end up having a good time.”\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

When the procession reached its destination at Trafalgar Square, organisers had laid on entertainment, face-painting, information about Indian culture and enough vegetarian food for 35,000.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Praghosa Das, leader of the UK’s Hare Krishnas, said he hoped passers-by would have their days brightened up by the carnival.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The 47-year-old Dubliner – born Paul Murphy – first became interested in the movement when he landed a job working in a Hare Krishna-run vegetarian restaurant in 1980.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\"Bhuta<\/p>\n
Bhuta Bhavana Das became interested in eastern philosophy at university<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

“I’m glad the sun’s shining today. It’s meant to be a celebration and we just want everyone to have a good time,” he said.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

“Our founder Srila Prabhupada said our way of life is simply ‘chanting, dancing and feasting’, and that’s what we’re giving everyone here today.”\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Other converts to the faith said they enjoyed the festival’s openness and inclusiveness.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Bhuta Bhavana Das, a 32-year-old youth worker, became interested in the movement while he was studying philosophy at the London School of Economics.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

“The great thing about today is that you have loads of Christians, Muslims, people of all faiths and none.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

“The whole point of Hare Krishna is that there are many different paths to enlightenment – it’s not about saying ‘My God is better than your God.'”<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/uk_news\/7468185.stm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"HareBy BBC UK<\/strong><\/p>\n

Londoners are used to seeing juggernauts rumbling through their streets, but this was a very different kind of heavy traffic… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-iskcon-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5996","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=5996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}