London Rathayatra

GETTING READY FOR 2021

By Titiksu dasa, London Rathayatra Coordinator

Nearly all of the 200 Rathayatra’s around the world including London have been unfortunately cancelled due to the Coronavirus. This is the first time there has not been a London Rathayatra since it was started in 1969.

The London chariots are not only used in London but are used throughout the summer at Rathayatra’s in Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton, Cardiff, Dublin, Leicester, and also abroad in Budapest and Paris. All these Rathayatra’s have been cancelled this year.

As you can imagine, the chariots get a lot of wear. Myself and a small team of devotees are taking advantage of this downtime to do much-needed maintenance. Restoring worn paintwork, replacing cracked or broken timbers and making new canopies. We built the current chariots of Lord Jagannatha and Lord Baladeva in 2004. I was fortunate enough to have been invited to help build what is now Lady Subhadra’s chariot in 1982. This was used for all three Deities until we got permission for two more in 2004.

Lord Jagannatha’s chariot has now done ten Rathayatra’s nearly every year since 2004. That’s almost 160 in total! As well as building chariots for Lord Jagannatha and Lord Baladeva in 2004,

we also rebuilt the 1982 chariot in 2006, which is now Lady Subhadra’s. Of course, all this maintenance work requires funds and we want to use the best quality materials for the Lord. The chariots are kept at our dedicated storage and workshop facility in Hatfield just north of London. We also have our own truck which is 15 years old and needs replacing. Many parts are wearing out and it no longer complies with London emission regulations.

I am humbly appealing to you for your help. This is a rare opportunity to serve Their Lordships Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva and Lady Subhadra by making an offering to the Lord’s chariots. To make your gift, please visit www.rathayatra.co.uk/ donate or send a cheque made payable to ‘ISKCON Ltd’ to: ISKCON Rathayatra, 1 Watford Road, Radlett WD7 8LA

For further information, please email Titiksu dasa at titiksu@rathayatra.co.uk

RATHAYATRA MEMORY

as if it was his own idea, “I think you should have

Titiksu dasa shares an interesting story about London Rathayatra regarding how permission to use three chariots came about:

In the year 2000, I was asked to manage the London Rathayatra festival. Previously from 1984, I had been looking after the chariot. We started fundraising for the festival that year and to our surprise we more than covered the expenses. The next year the same thing happened, and the next. I was beginning to wonder, “What does Jagannatha want? He’s sending all this money.” The next year, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport held a consultation meeting for all the users of Trafalgar Square. They unveiled a model of the Square with the top section joined to the National Gallery by a terrace. I thought to myself that this would be an ideal place for three chariots. Previously the square was an island with four lanes of traffic on all sides and we had to put the chariot next to Nelson’s Column where there would be no room for three good friend Parama Karuna dasa went to meet with the inspector. He asked, “How many chariots are you having this year?” I said, “Well, one.” He replied,

chariots. three because it will make the procession more manageable.” We nearly fell off our chairs. So, Lord Jagannatha set up the whole thing. He sent the funds, arranged for Trafalgar Square to be changed to accommodate three chariots and changed the mind of the inspector!

The next thing that happened was the police asked us to come for a meeting to discuss how many chariots we would be having. “How many chariots?” This was very strange. Usually we had to approach them. For the previous three years I had been joking with the police inspector about having three chariots on the plea that it would make the procession more manageable. Of course, it wouldn’t. But that was the running joke. And every year the inspector would say “No. There is too much chaos with one chariot. I will never give permission for three chariots.” So, myself and my