Balagokulam Sobhyatras-Chariot of Hindu Unity

If there is one Sangh inspired organisation which has crossed all barriers of caste, religion, politics etc. and has acquired total acceptance from the public and media of Kerala, it is undoubtedly ‘Balagokulam’, the organisation for children.

 Although the Balagokulam conducts Gita classes, story sessions on epics, puranas etc. the crowning glory of its presence is the thousands of Shobha yatras and Maha Shobha yatras it takes out on ‘Krishna Jayanthi’ day in which about 15 lakh children dressed in attires of Krishna, Balaram, Kuchela, Gopas, Gopikas etc. carry out massive processions in every nook and corner of Kerala. Virtually, Kerala gets converted into Gokul, Dwaraka, Mathura etc. and we get transformed into a glorious era. Elephants in full regalia, women dressed in Kerala attire carrying multicoloured umbrellas, traditional music instruments like ‘Panchavadyam’, floats depicting scenes from the life of the Lord are the other high lights of the procession.

 This year’s Maha Shobha yatra which converted the capital city of Thiruvanantha-puram into a ‘Gokulaganga’ was inaugurated by the President of the Travancore Dewaswom Board, G. Raman Nair. Kummanam Rajasekharan, J. Sishupalan and other senior leaders of Sangh associated organisations led the massive procession.

An unique feature of this Shobha yathra is that lakhs of people owing affiliation to Communists, Congress, Christians, Muslims line up both sides of the road to watch this unique procession. Also the print and electronic media gave wide coverage to this unique event, vying with each other for giving more colourful and better pictures and visuals.