Devotees from across the globe have gathered at ISKCON Mayapur on Saturday to commence celebrations of the ‘Chandan Yatra’ festival at the Sridam Mayapur Chandradaya temple.
For the next three weeks, large processions, carrying deities on a palanquin will be taken out within the campus in the evening amidst singing and dancing by thousands of devotees who will also grind chandan (sandalwood) to smear the paste over Radha Madhav.
The deities will be placed on a decorated boat and will be taken out for a ride in the pond.
During this time various pastimes of Krishna Rasa Leela, Govardhan Leela, Aghasura Vad, Gajendra Uddhara and others will be depicted in the temple.
Large quantities of delicious prasadam like cakes, sweet rice, laddoos, halua, pakoras will be distributed everyday, it said.
As per the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy, Chandan yatra is being celebrated for almost 700 years when Krishna in Vrindavan instructed his devotee Madhvendra Puri to fetch Malaya Chandan, make paste of it and smear it over the deity of Gopal to get relief from the heat.
(With inputs from agencies)