Biratnagar Radha Krishna chariot procession bans electronic music to aid flood victims

Hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims converged on Biratnagar on Saturday, 5 September 2026 (20 Bhadra 2083 BS), to participate in the annual Radha Krishna Rath Yatra, an event marked this year by a return to acoustic devotional heritage and a collective relief initiative for disaster victims.

Staged each year on the day following Krishna Janmashtami, the procession departed at 15:00 local time from the historic Radha Krishna Temple situated at Panitanki Chowk. Municipal authorities and temple marshals estimated that more than 300,000 devotees, including extensive cross-border delegations from neighbouring northern Indian states, lined the streets of the Koshi Province commercial capital.

In a coordinated shift away from contemporary carnival atmosphere, organizers enforced a total prohibition on amplified DJ music rigs. Kailash Regmi, chairman of the Radha Krishna Temple Management Committee, confirmed that festival authorities chose to replace mobile electronic speaker walls with traditional devotional singing, cultural tableaux, and indigenous bhajans to restore the ceremony’s contemplative roots.