Melbourne Ratha-yatra 2006

Whew, after a few hours of mucking around I’ve just managed to fix up my web server and get the Ratha-yatra pictures on line. The deity shots aren’t the best either. The colour balance was out. I mucked up the white balance settings. You’ll get the general idea though. That line contains just over 200 devotees in all.

Ratha-yatra

I’ve posted shots from the Ratha-yatra celebrations. Thanks to Arun Bilgi for the shots. If you’ve got some good pics of the event send me a half a dozen or so and I’ll post them to the site.

About 150 attended a well organised procession. Well organised means, we stopped and started on time. Lord Jagannatha was back on the altar with one minute to spare before the arati.

The feast was a big hit also. Thanks to Braja Basi and Acintya Rupa.

One of the reasons why I prefer not to advertise the Ratha-yatra festival widely is we already have a big turn out. If it got any bigger we would have to use the street for our procession. That would mean seeking council permits and having a lot more security than we do at present. As it is we take over the whole street for at least 50 metres at a stretch. Anything bigger than that and we might find the locals complaining.

I hear devotees talking of holding a bigger parade in the future. It’s a good idea but we will have to do a lot of homework and fund-raising to pull off a bigger event.