PunitaSthan
Rajasthan Through Eyes of Punita
Punita | May 9th, 2018
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Immersing in the Invigorating Celebrations of the Rajasthan Festival
The ‘Land of the Kings’, Rajasthan has for years, celebrated its foundation day with great pomp and show. An invigorating event spanning a period of three days, the Rajasthan Festival takes the entire state under a bright tutelage and invokes an underlying streak of merriment and revelry. While the main festival takes place in Jaipur, it is the entire state that relives its history and heritage in a celebration that resounds with liveliness.
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The Rajasthan Festival
Marking the foundation of the princely state of Rajasthan, this festival, organized each year by the Tourism Department of Rajasthan, follows a fun-filled and packed programme that connects every person of every age group into a single entity revelling in the testimony of vivacious musical concerts, captivating film festivals, police tattoo show, musical night, and much more. Each and every programme that graces the festival brings forth an element from the rich tradition and history of Rajasthan, and celebrates it in all its glory. At various heritage sites in Rajasthan, the festival is witness to numerous celebrations that exalt the legends and heritage of the state.
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This Year’s Celebrations
The Rajasthan Festival 2018 celebrated 69 years since its foundation, and marked an auspicious beginning with a special prayer, the Shabd Kirtan, which was followed by prasadi at the Raja Park Gurudwara. Thanking the gods for their boons and bounty is one of the main aspects of the colourful Rajasthani history, a tradition that was honoured by swasti vachan, sahastrarchan, and a maha aarti held at the Moti Dungari Ganesh Ji Temple. The opening ceremony tantalized the senses with the International Festival of Short Films on Culture & Tourism, and the lighting of the Rajasthan Day Torch which was followed by the awe-inspiring beats from ceremonial Nagaras that left each and every visitor buzzing. With the excitement and fervour of the festival that had now officially begun, it was all set to take you on a journey through time and tradition for an entirety of three days.
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A host of activities
Some of the events that left a mark on the collective psyche of the attendees included the police tattoo show, the children’s film festival, and the army pageant. One of the major highlights of the festival was the mega evening concert featuring Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy, the magical trio that turned the entire evening into a fiesta of feet tapping music. The Rajasthan Festival had something for everyone; for the youngest, there was the Children’s Film Festival that screened films like Bhago Bhoot, Gili Gili Atta, etc., free of costs for kids, on the 29th and 30th of March at the INOX Cinema Hall, Crystal Palm, Jaipur, where shows went house full with a large number of kids enjoying the special screenings. On the other hand, there was the Motor Bike Show by ‘Seema Bhawani’, the women commando team of the BSF, which left each and every spectator spellbound. Another special mention is for the Army Show on the 29th, where the army band showcased their symphony, trick riding skills, display of tornadoes, special operations by the Special Forces, as well as motivational songs by the NCC cadets to get into the spirit of the celebration. On the 30th of March, the last day of the festival, the celebrations were brought to a close with a grand ceremony that seamlessly wove together mesmerizing performances with modern technology and paid tribute to the glorious past of Rajasthan. This was showcased through a theatrical performance that was accompanied by a state-of-the-art projection mapping show that covered the façade of the Vidhan Sabha, lending a perfect end to the three-day long festival that managed to enthrall crowds of people into making promises to revisit the festival next year.