Bhaktivedanta Swami first thought of conducting a Ratha-yatra in San Francisco when he saw flat bed trucks passing by the temple there. He asked his disciples to get a truck and create a four-pillared canopy at the back of the truck. And so it was that a yellow Hertz rental truck, complete with five-foot columns and a pyramidal cloth canopy, carried the three-foot high Deities of Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra on Their first ever Ratha-yatra in the West. The ratha was decorated with flags, bells and flower garlands.
Reference: Illustration by Bhaktisiddhanta Dasa
