Mumbai

The annual rath yatra of Lord Jagannath would be taken out with much fanfare and reverence by Indian Society for Krishna Consciousness on March 12-13 at the iconic Shivaji Park ground here.

The event coincides with the 50th-year celebrations of ISKCON, according to its spokesperson Lucky Kulkarni.

The deities of Lord Jagannath would arrive in Shivaji Park in his rath with his brother Baldev and sister Subhadra after a long wait and their chariot would be pulled by devotees and welcomed by lakhs of people, Kulkarni said in a release here.

In the last three years, the authorities did not give permission to hold the event as Shivaji Park was declared a silence zone by the authorities.

However, now this event has been included in the non-sports category by the Maharashtra government for a period of 45 days, as directed by the High Court for such activities following which the permission was granted to take out this historic yatra, she said.

The chariot festival of Lord Jagannath is celebrated every year by lakhs of people at Puri in Odisha.

Srila Prabhupada, founder of ISKCON, out of his compassion, decided to celebrate this festival all over the world as every one cannot go to Puri.PTI