Not since the Festival of Colors have we seen anything quite this, well, colorful: on Saturday, the 39th annual ParadeĀ of Chariots brought thousands of Hare Krishna devotees — and three giant chariots — into the streets of Fifth Avenue for a parade that ended with Ā aĀ jamboree in Washington Square Park.
ThisĀ stateside version of the annualĀ festival of Ratha Yatra —Ā in which a trio ofĀ Vaishnava-HinduĀ deities are removed fromĀ an Indian temple and taken for a spinĀ —Ā was put on by theĀ International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which was bornĀ in the East Village in 1966. That’s when Indian guruĀ A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada held what’s said to be the first outdoor chanting session in the U.S., near an elm tree in Tompkins Square Park. (Naturally, Allen Ginsberg was in attendance.)Ā
Watch our video of the Parade of Chariots to hearĀ theĀ words that were chanted on that day.