Iskcon ratha yatra on Saturday

MYSORE: The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) has organised annual Srikrishna Balarama ratha yatra on Saturday in the city.
The ratha yatra will pass through the main thoroughfares of the city after inauguration at Balarama gate of the Palace at 4.30 pm.
Karnataka ministers H.C.Srikantaiah and H.Vishwanath, MLC G.Madhusudan and president of ISKCON, Bangalore and chairman of Akshayapatra Foundation Madhu Pandit Dasa will be present.
The ratha yatra will be accomained by ‘sankirtana’ performed by ISKCON devotees from different parts of the world. It will conclude at Govinda Rao memorial Hall, where arati with ‘sankirtana’ will be offered.
According to mythology, the ratha yatra dates back to 5000 years when Krishna along with his older brother Balarama and sister Subhadra were pulled on a chariot from Kurukshetra to Vrindavana by Krishna’s devotees.
This is replicated every year at the ratha yatra festival in the well known town of Jagannath Puri in Orissa, where tens of thousands of devotees congregrate during the festival to pull chariots of Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra.