Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee welcomed and inaugurated ISKCON's Rath Yatra at Brigade Parade Grounds where state panchayat and PHE minister Subrato Mukherjee and Mayor Sovan Chatterjee were also present.
Many such chariot festivals were organised all over the city where thousands of devotees participated.
At Mahesh near Serampore in Hooghly district, the festival, which is being celebrated since 1397, was held with usual pomp.
The Rathayatra at Mahesh is the oldest in the country after Puri.
On this day, formal booking for jatras (folk theatre) in the state is opened.