Indians in US organise chariot festival after five years

For the first time in five years, people of Indian-origin organised a Rath Yatra with bhajans and dancing that reverberated through the streets in St. Louis County, Missouri, a media report said.

On Sunday morning, hundreds of devotees pulled a chariot carrying the statues of three deities from the Krishna Balaram Temple at St. Louis to Queeny Park area, St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper reported.

"One of the things this event represents is that deities, instead of staying in temple, are taken out in public for the purpose of everyone and anyone being able to see them," Yamuna Jivana Das, one of the event organisers, was quoted as saying.

"We repeat the God's name with music and dancing so that we can immerse into his heart, so that you don't think of anything else -- complete devotion, you know," added Nina Desai, a follower from Chesterfield area.

Many of the devotees attended the prayers at the Krishna Balaram Temple that espouses a "Krishna Consciousness" mantra.