Leicester sees huge Hare Krishna chariot pulled through streets

16 July 2017

Hundreds of festival-goers have joined a procession in which a 40ft (12.1m) chariot was pulled through Leicester city centre.

The Hare Krishna Festival of Chariots began in Granby Street with a welcome ceremony and ended at Cossington Park, in Belgrave, on Sunday afternoon.

Leicester hosts one of the largest celebrations of its type in Europe, organisers said.

The chariot carried deities of the Lord Jagannatha and his sister Subhadra.

The vibrant procession was accompanied with music, singing and dancing as it made its way through the city.

Festival dancers — Image caption,
Those taking part made music as the procession progressed

Festival-goers pull a 40ft chariot through Leicester — Image caption,
Deities of Lord Jagannatha, his sister Subhadra and Lord Balarama

Pradyumna Das, the president of the the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), said Rathayatra, as it is also known, was "the second largest such festival in Europe."

The 5,000-year-old event was first brought to the West by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, the founder of ISKCON, in 1967.

At Cossington Park, revellers were entertained with dance, live music, drama and exhibitions.