Join the company of Lord Jagannatha and his devotees at their annual Festival of Chariots - a colourful parade that sees three huge wooden chariots containing the Deities Jagannatha, Balarama and Subhadra pulled from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square.
Photo: rathayatra.co.ukFive thousand-year-old religious festival
The festival dates back 5,000 years when Krishna went to the holy place of Kurukshetra during a solar eclipse. When the King of Dwarka and his brother saw that Krishna was there they spontaneously decided to pull their chariots to where they had set up camp. And that was the very first Rathayatra... led by Srimati Radharani himself!
Photo: facebook.com/londonrathayatraThese days the event is completely non-sectarian and everybody is encouraged to join in the happy clapping and chanting: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
Parade from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square
Photo: facebook.com/londonrathayatraThe grand procession of around 3,000 pilgrims and devotees will begin in the south-east corner of Hyde Park (close to Apsley House) and pass down Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus.
It will end in Trafalgar Square, where there will be a celebratory festival with free vegetarian food and distribution of transcendental books.
If you enjoy Trafalgar Square then you might like to visit Covent Garden (you can walk it in 7 mins), Leicester Square (you can walk it in 4 mins) and Piccadilly Circus (you can walk it in 6 mins)
The author Craig Cross owns londondrum.com and has spent the last decade reviewing the capital’s landmarks, attractions and hotels. His guidebook London Squire is available from Amazon
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