Monday, 27 August 2007

Gouranga


When I first went to Leeds I was puzzled by the appearance of 'Gouranga' on the M1 motorway bridges, I originally thought it might be advertising for a nightclub as there are flyer's and posters all around leeds for events etc, however I have done some investigating and apparently this is the reason for the repeated use of the word is as follows:
'Gauranga (Gouranga) was a nickname of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, a monk in India who 500 years ago founded the branch of Hinduism that during the 20th century was brought to the west by ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness, better known as the "Hare Krishna" sect).
Years ago the name Gouranga appeared on motorway bridges in the North of England and on various stickers, causing people to wonder what it was all about. It has been rumoured that the Scottish branch of ISKCON has been trying to spread the name of their spiritual ancestor through a guerilla-type campaign.' (http://www.joewein.de/sw/spam-neateye-gouranga.htm)
As I researched more into the subject of 'Gouranga' it appears that 10 years ago in Scotland everywhere was plastered in posters saying 'Gouranga' they have gradually been removed, and even though everyone seems to know about them few realise what they actually mean. So I don't know whether this is considered to be a good marketing campaign or not, the interest is there but nobody knows what they are interested in!

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