A cursory glance at the ongoing activity in Lotus Temple (Hare Rama Mandir) is sure to leave the onlookers spellbound! With colourful dioramas and paintings, the place has been transformed into a live account of Lord Sri Krishna’s life.
The temple, run by International Society for Krsna Consciousness (ISKCON), has stepped away from their regular arrangements for this year’s Sri Krishna Janmashtami by employing the services of artists belonging to Kolkata-based Madhav Artists Company to recreate mythological episodes and three-dimensional dioramas from ‘Bhagavatham.’
As many as 40 artists have been working on this project for the past one month, transforming simple materials like thermocol, bamboo and cloth into delightful masterpieces. While one painting depicted Lord Krishna’s insatiable appetite for butter, which earned him the nickname of ‘Venna Donga’, others too followed suit by highlighting the 2D and 3D versions of Lord Krishna’s stories from the mythology.
Besides this, the temple is also being spruced up for the three-day fete beginning from August 17.
TTD adds to the festive moodAdding to the prevailing festive mood, organisers at the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Sri Venkateswara Gosamrakshanashala began decorating the premises for the upcoming Gokulashtami Celebrations.
The fete will be held on August 18 and will host programmes such as Venu Ganam & Kolatam and Bhajans by artistes of Dasa Sahitya Project (6 a.m. – 10.30 a.m.), Go Puja and Venugopala Swamy Harathi (10.30 a.m. – 11.30 a.m.) and cultural programmes (11.30 a.m. – 12.30 p.m.).
The darshan of Lord Sri Venugopala Swamy (distribution of ‘prasadams’) will begin from 12.30 p.m. and conclude with a ‘Hari Katha’ programme in the evening. The TTD has also informed that devotees worshipping ‘Go Mata’ during the ‘Go Puja’ ritual can personally feed cows with their offerings and seek blessings.
