With not much money and less then 20 devotees, Srila Prabhupada managed to hold the first festival  using a pick up truck as the chariot (Rath) and enthusiastic devotees singing and dancing along down the road. By 1968 the Hare Krishna movement had expanded dramatically and the first Ratha Yatra Chariots were built. Golden Gate Park was selected for the parade route. Nearly 40,000 people attended!

In 1975  the Ratha Yatra became  so popular that Mayor Alioto of San Francisco proclaimed “Ratha Yatra day in San Francisco” and in 1999 Mayor Willy Brown came to sweep the road in front of the Rath Chariot, a tradition performed by Ancient Kings of India. Today this festival is celebrated in all major cities through out the world.

This Ratha-Yatra, chariot procession, has been celebrated for five thousand years in India. This festival commemorates the glorious occasion of when Lord Krishna (also known as Lord Jagannatha), along with His elder brother Balarama (also known as Lord Baladeva) and His younger sister Subhadra, all together in a chariot came from the Capital City of Dvaraka to the pilgrimage place known as Kuruksetra. Both these places are still existing today.

Upon receiving the news that Krishna was coming to Kurukestra, the Gopis of  Vrindaban traveled there to see Him. When the chief Gopi, Srimati Radharani, saw Her Lord Krishna in Kuruksetra in all His opulence, She said, "My dear Krishna, You are also here; I am also here. But We are missing Vrindavan. So I wish that You come along with Me again to Vrindavan..." These feelings of separation were preached by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu five hundred

Lord Jagannatha, Lady Subhadra, & Lord Baladeva

He would dance with intense feelings of ecstatic love of God. He was in the mood of separation  as if Radharani was taking Krishna back to Vrindavan. So this Ratha-yatra festival is a feeling festival for the Vaishnavas. Lord Caitanya taught us how to feel separation of God. Lord Caitanya never taught us that He had seen God, but He felt the separation of God very severely.

The Festival of the Chariots, known as the “Ratha Yatra Festival” through out India, is an ancient festival dating back over 5,000 years. In India this festival has an attendance of well over a million people.

In 1967 A.C.  Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder Acharya for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, introduced the  very first Ratha Yatra Festival to the Western world in San Francisco.

     years ago when he started  the Krishna Consciousness Movement in West Bengal India. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, whose Glorious  activities are recorded in a book called the Caitanya Caritamrta, would attend this Ratha Yatra. At this festival

Dignitaries come for service

“Mahārāja Pratāparudra, the greatly powerful king of Orissa, was always very busy with heavy state responsibilities, yet he madeit a point to sweep the temple of Lord Jagannātha at Purī once ayear during the festival of the Lord. The idea is that however important a man one may be he must accept the supremacy of the Supreme Lord. . .” (Srimad-Bhagavatam)

"While the Lord was being carried from the throne to the car, King Pratāparudra personally engaged in the Lord's service by cleansing the road with a broom that had a golden handle." (Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya Lila)

In 1975 “Ratha Yatra” was so popular that San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto declared a “Ratha Yatra Day in San Francisco”.

In 1999 San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown participated in the event by sweeping the steps to Lord Jagannatha’s altar. In his address at the festival he exclaimed, “I am delighted that you are allowing San Francisco to play host to the Festival of the Chariots.”