PILGRIMAGE ARRIVES IN THE CITY

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Pilgrimage arrives in city

Hindus carrying ornate pots known as kumbhs will parade through Leicester tomorrow as part of a worldwide pilgrimage symbolising their commitment to protecting the environment.

The Green Kumbh Yatra is an international initiative in which a sacred metal kumbh has been carried across numerous countries to promote the importance of conservation and biodiversity.

Launched last year at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Hyderabad, India, its journey will finish in South Korea in 2014.

The pot has already visited Nepal and Israel, and is in Britain this month before travelling to the USA.

"Spirituality and religion's role in conservation is as old as time itself," said Kusum Vyas, founder of the Green Kumbh Yatra.

The Green Kumbh Yatra will be at the Shree Sanatan Mandir temple, in Weymouth Street, off Catherine Street, from 11.30am to 1pm.