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WORLD  Jagannath Rathayatra Baroda BY BASU GHOSH DAS INDIA, Jul 4 (VNN) — 22nd annual Sri Jagannath Rathayatra at Baroda, Gujarat Dear Maharajas, Prabhus, Matas, kids, etc., Namonamaha. Jaya Srila Prabhupada! The 22nd annual Sri Jagannath Rathayatra Mahotsav was observed in a grand way here at Baroda on Tuesday, 1 July, 2003: the auspicious day of Aashadh Shukla Dvitiya, when Rathayatra is observed annually at Sri Purushottama Kshetra, Sri Jagannath Puri Dham. Since "seeing is believing", as the old adage goes, along with this report are several pictures of the Rathayatra procession.  The Rathayatra was attended by H.H. Bhakti Vikas Swami, H.H. Bhakti Vishrambha Madhava Maharaj, and Sriman Mahaman Prabhu (co-TP of ISKCON Vrindavan). Devotees from Vrindavan, Chandigarh, Jhansi, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vallabh Vidyanagar, and even a group of 5 devotees from Salem, Tamil Nadu, besides the participation of many local congregational devotees. Several visiting devotees from abroad also participated in Rathayatra.  The Mayor of Baroda, Sri N.V. Patel, and the District Collector/District Magistrate, Sri Bhagyesh Jha, led the dignataries who joined in inaugurating the Rathayatra. Several MLAs: Sri Bhupendra Lakhawala, Sri Jitendra Sukhadia, Sri Diluba Chudasama, BJP City President Shabdasharan Brahmbhatt, Ex-Minister Nalin Bhatt, Leader of the Opposition in the City Council, Sri Dalsukhbhai Prajapati and many Municipal Councilors were present too. The Rathayatra went off peacefully, as usual, and there was participation and observation by thousands, even lakhs (hundreds of thousands!) The local print and electronic media - TV is big in India these days - gave extensive coverage to the procession. The procession was led by 2 Elephants, 4 horses, 8 camel carts - some which had children in costumes, and two brass bands. There was ecstatic kirtan throughout the 5 hour, 8 kilometer procession, led by various devotees...  After the Rathayatra, 10,000 people took full prasad at ISKCON's Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar Mandir on Gotri Road, Baroda, where many thousands of people came for darshan in the evening.    Hope this finds you well. Vaishnava dasanudas, Basu Ghosh Das Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
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