Date:03/04/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/fr/2009/04/03/stories/2009040350220200.htm

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Spellbinding show

A.D. RANGARAJAN

Dance performances by ISKCON devotees were mesmerising.

Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar

With fervour Devotees perform at Hare Krishna Utsavam.

Devotees attached to the International Society for Krsna Consciousness (ISKCON) performed a classical dance concert at Sri Radha Govinda Mandir (Lotus Temple) in Tirupati recently.

As part of a spiritual tour of India, around 1000 devotees of the ISKCON school of thought from as many as 43 countries arrived in the temple city last week for a darshan of Lord Venkateswara. The movement’s international president Tridandi Jayapataka Swamy led the contingent. The stage show on ‘Hare Krishna’ festival turned out to be a feast to the eyes of the audience. The young artistes donning the role of Krsna and Radha in the dance concert depicted interesting episodes from the Bhagavatha, the glory of ‘Hare Krishna mantra’ and the need to chant it in Kaliyuga.

A ‘Nagara Sankeerthana’ was taken out by the devotees in the arterial roads of the city to explain ‘Krishna Tattva’. Amid the chanting of ‘Hare Krsna’ mantra, the women devotees swayed in ecstasy to the rhythmic beating of percussion instruments and cymbals. A magic show was also performed by an American devotee to explain the synthesis of Krsna and the mythical character of Radha.