A few photos from the Cambridge Rathayatra 2024 held on New Square

Here, for your pleasure, are a few photos from the Cambridge Rathayatra 2024, New Square, today . . . just yards from my front door! 

All taken with a Fuji X-T2 using a Fujifilm XF 35mm F2 R WR lens, and using the Kevin Mullins’ Parr colour recipe.

Just click on any photo to enlarge it

The Rathayatra is a festival for Lord Krishna and his devotees that originates in Jagannatha Puri on the east coast of India and dates back over 2,000 years. As Krishna, in his most merciful form of Jagannatha, is pulled along on a huge cart, everyone involved chants the Hare Krishna maha-mantra accompanied by various musical instruments and drums and, of course, with dancing.  

For those of you who don’t know it, the mantra (from the Kali-Santarana Upanisad) is as follows:

Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare 

Perhaps, like many people of my generation, I first came to know it thanks to George Harrison’s song, “My Sweet Lord.” It is composed of the names of three Hindu deities and their energies: Hare, Krishna and Rama. Essentially it is a petition to God and I have heard it said that one might loosely interpret it as meaning something like, “Oh Lord, oh energy of the Lord, please engage me in your service.”

Anyway, it was a lovely, colourful occasion, and I was able to have an interesting conversation with someone about the long and rich relationship between Hinduism and the Unitarian tradition that has been developing since the early 19th century.