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Bhavnagar is one of the large cities of Gujarat, located in the Southeastern side of the Saurashtra peninsula. Named after it's founder, Raja (King) Bhavsinhji Gohil, it was founded in 1724.

Presently Bhavnagar is the sixth largest city in Gujarat, after Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda (Vadodara), Rajkot and Jamnagar. The population of Bhavnagar is six lakhs (6,00,000) , but unofficially it is probably more.

Mainly due to economic and climatic conditions over the past fifty years, large segments of the population of Bhavnagar district have migrated to both Bombay and Surat.

The history of ISKCON at Bombay is a long one, beginning with it's establishment during 1971 by ISKCON Founder-Acharya Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Part of this history is that a number of persons from the Bhavnagar town and district over the years came in contact with and joined ISKCON. These devotees have played a pivotal role in the establishment of ISKCON at Bhavnagar.

Sriman Kundal Krishna Das is one of the natives of Bhavnagar who came in touch with ISKCON at Mira Road, one of the prominent suburbs of Bombay, where one of four ISKCON centers has been established in the Bombay metropolitan area. He took spiritual initiation from senior ISKCON devotee and disciple of Srila Prabhupada, Sripad Radha Govinda Swami, some years ago.

The ISKCON Mira Road temple, now under construction, has a sizeable number of Bhavnagar natives living in the nearby surrounding areas, as a result of the massive expansion of Bombay over the past twenty-five years.

Kundal Krishna Prabhu [seen in this picture: http://tinyurl.com/kxkaw97 ] has become a keen Gujarati lecturer, especially expert in describing the stories of Lord Krishna in the “dashama skanda” - the tenth canto.

Kundal Krishna Prabhu was inspired to establish an ISKCON center at Bhavnagar. Taking permission from and working with Jasomatinandan Das, ISKCON zonal secretary for Gujarat, he returned to Bhavnagar three years back. Today ISKCON Bhavnagar operates a small temporary temple, in a rented premises.

Today there are around four hundred grihasta (householder) congregational devotees living at Bhavnagar, who regularly participate in ISKCON's various programs.

Inspired by Kundal Krishna Prabhu, a very generous donor made possible the purchase of a property at Bhavnagar, that is more than three quarters of an acre, on a main road in a developing area, on the outskirts - but not outside -- of the town. The property was registered in the name of ISKCON in January of this year.

For the very first time, Kundal Krishna Prabhu and his team organized a Jagannath Rathayatra (Festival of the Chariot of the Lord of the Universe), on Sunday, April 27, 2014. The festival began at three in the afternoon, and moved through many of the main roads of Bhavnagar. The vernacular press covered the festival here: http://tinyurl.com/mk4r5rp.

The Rathayatra procession was joined by a larger group of three thousand local residents including the regular ISKCON congregational devotees. A “Bhagavat saptah” (narration of the story of Srimad Bhagavatam, one of the ancient histories of India) preceded the Rathayatra, and enthusiasm for the Rathayatra was generated amongst the wider group of participants of the saptah program.

Deities of Lord Jagannath, the form of Lord Krishna that has been worshipped in the grand temple at Puri, Orissa, in Eastern India, along with his elder brother Baladev, sister Subhadradevi, and principle weapon, the Sudarshan chakra, were placed on the Rath (Chariot), and nicely decorated.

The Grand Rath where the Deities were placed on for the procession was constructed at Bombay and transported to Bhavangar for the festival. It will remain as a permanent fixture at ISKCON Bhavnagar. The special feature of this Rath, besides it's massive size, is that it has a retractable canopy. The Rath was decorated profusely with flower garlands, and a banner was draped over the back of the Rath. “Hare Krishna” appeared in massive letters in English on the side of the Rath, and “Hare Rama” on the side of the Rath.

The starting point of the Rathayatra, where the saptah was held, was Vijayrajnagar. From there the Rathayatra procession went to Dairy Road, Nilambagh, Jail Road, Kalanala Circle, Vaghavadi Road, Water Tank, Ram Mantar Mandir, to Dukhishyam Bapa Circle, then Sardar Road, and then to ISKCON's new land near the Lila Circle, where the procession concluded.

The Deities were removed from the Rath onto a stage at the festival, offered a grand feast, and arati, as per ancient tradition.

One of the highlights of the festival was the participation of Sriman Deena Bandhu Das, a senior disciple of ISKCON Founder-acharya Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who has been residing at the ISKCON Krishna Balaram temple at Vrindavan, the holy town that was the site of many of Lord Krishna's pastimes, for the past thirty years.

Deena Bandhu Prabhu led kirtan during the Rathayatra procession and spoke on a stage erected on ISKCON's land at the conclusion of the Rathayatra [Seen here: http://tinyurl.com/knz6y8m ]

Deena Bandhu Prabhu addressed the assembled devotees in Hindi language after the Rathayatra procession concluded. [Seen here: http://tinyurl.com/leld56z ]. Basu Ghosh Das, temple president of ISKCON Baroda, a native of Chicago, who has been residing in Gujarat since 1979 also spoke, addressing the assembly in Gujarati, the language of Gujarat. [pictured here: http://tinyurl.com/l32guec ].

ISKCON Mira Road Bombay temple president Sriman Kamala Lochan Das, accompanied by several brahmacharis from the Mira Road temple, such as Chanda Kopi Das were also there. A group of twenty devotees from Anklav Village in Anand District, led by Sriman Bhakta Avatar Das (who has been connected with ISKCON at New York City for more than 35 years) also joined the festival.

Sriman Murtiman Das, who spearheads a number of preaching programs amongst the large population of Bhavnagar and Saurashtra natives settled at Surat, also participated in the Rathayatra along with a group of ninety devotees.

Sriman Vishnunam Prabhu, ISKCON Ahmedabad vice president, along with his wife, and ISKCON Baroda IYF preachers Vamsidhari Das, Bhakta Das, Ram Gopal Das and Shravananda Das, also joined the festival.

At the conclusion of the Rathayatra, prasad (full bhojan/evening meals) were served to around seven thousand participants of the festival. [Picture here: http://tinyurl.com/lm6mj35 .]

Photos by Vaman Das and Shravanananda Das

Pictures of the festival can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/lrpdqpp