'Unseasonal' Rath Yatra in US invites severe criticism

A video posted by ISKCON Baltimore purportedly shows a Rath Yatra being celebrated on October 10, though the original festival was already held in June earlier this year. The unseasonal celebration has invited severe criticism.

Puri (Odisha):An 'unseasonal' Rath Yatra conducted by devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in the United States has once again invited severe criticism from the public.

A video of the unseasonal car festival recently surfaced on the internet. According to reports, the video was posted on Facebook by the local ISKCON organisation in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Rath Yatra, which was already celebrated earlier in June this year, was celebrated in Baltimore on October 10.

In the video, ISKCON devotees were seen celebrating the car festival by placing the wooden idol of Lord Jagannath on a luxury car. Many Indians as well as Americans were seen participating in the celebrations.

Further, the Indian national flag was also seen fluttering in front of the car.

The idol was placed in a luxury car

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However, after the video was posted on social media, the untimely Rath Yatra celebration received severe criticism from many netizens.

Many, including the Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb, the King of Puri have been regularly objecting to such unseasonal Rath Yatras.

The idol was placed in a luxury car

Further, the temple administration of the Shree Jagannath temple at Puri had also issued advisories not to conduct such unseasonal car festivals.

However, there seems to be no end to such Rath Yatras in foreign countries.