Pune's Iskcon temple celebrates Janmashtami with fanfare

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) temple in Camp area celebrated Janmashtami, the birth of Lord Krishna, with traditional fervour and gaiety on Monday .

The celebrations at the temple — teeming with men, women and children — started at 4.30 am and continued till well after midnight. This year, about 10,000 devotees of Lord Krishna got an opportunity to perform abhishek.

The social and spiritual mentor of Iskcon temple, Dhir Shant Das, said the celebrations began with bhajan, kirtan, pravachan, various competitions and darshan sohala of Lord Krishna. A special abhishek of Lord Krishna was performed at 3:30pm.

“This year, the abhishek of Lord Krishna was conducted in a tent with about 12 idols, so that the time and crowd could be managed properly,” he added.

Savita Kanhere, a devotee said, “I am new to Pune, and this year I got an opportunity to visit this temple. It is a joyous occasion for me and for all devotees to come and get proper darshan without chaos.”

This year’s celebration has been dedicated to the construction of the new temple on Katraj-Kondhwa Road and all donations from devotees will be directed to the completion of the temple, said Das.

Numerous stalls selling religious items were set up on the roadside, outside the temple, that was thronged by devotees. The special attraction was a stall selling the Bhagwad Gita in different languages at a discounted price of Rs60.