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Mega cultural festivals to woo tourists

BHUBANESWAR: Come January, the city will get a splendid gift from the Orissa Tourism in the form of four mega cultural events, a New Year bonanza.

Sources in Tourism Department told ‘The Hindu’ that the government has rescheduled the events, which were earlier spread over four months, from December to March, to retain the tourists’ inflow to the State and prolong their stay here. A large number of tourists and pilgrims throng Puri during Christmas and winter holidays and also visit Konark and Chilika before returning back. Now efforts are being made to lure them to visit Bhubaneswar as well, the sources explained.

While the department would mount the annual Shreekshera Utsav in Puri from January 6 to 8, showcasing the culture and tradition of the ancient temple town, the annual Mukteswar dance festival would be held in Bhubaneswar from January 17 to 19.

An exclusive festival for Odissi dance by artistes of repute, Mukteswara dance festival has gained immense popularity in India and abroad for its live telecast, he added.

The festival, which is scheduled to commence on January 17, is a 11-day folk dance festival mounted at the sprawling Janata Maidan where a national-level crafts fair would also be organised by the Centre.

It would feature almost all the major folk and tribal arts of the State and it would be a rare opportunity to witness some of the dying folk forms, the officer said.

Atop the historic Dhauli hills, Kalinga Mahotsav - the two-day national festival of martial dances, one of its kind in India, would be organised on January 23 and 24. The event is the brain-child of city-based noted Italian dancer and Padmashri Ileana Citaristi, it was learnt.

In the last leg of the series, the annual Rajarani national festival of Indian classical music would be held from January 26 to 28 on the sprawling lawns of Rajarani temple premises.

City-based well-known cultural organisation Bhubaneswar Music Circle would organise it on behalf of the department.

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