BARGARH: After two years of Covid hiatus, Bargarh’s famous Dhanuyatra, considered to be the world’s largest open-air theatre, kicked off amid much fanfare on Tuesday. The festival commenced at 3 pm and a huge procession comprising 22 groups of artists was taken out to the Raj Darbar of King Kansa at Hatpada.
Before the inaugural ceremony, a one-minute silence was observed to pray for Shreyas Pujari, the child actor who died in an accident on December 9. Shreyas was chosen to play the role of Balaram. Bargarh town will turn into a stage during the festival. The town will become Mathura under demon king Kansa’s rule while the ‘Balya Leela’ of Lord Krishna will take place at Ambapali on the other side of Jeera river, which transforms into Gopapura.
More than 100 artists will play various roles at Mathura as well as Gopapura. Besides, over 3,000 artists from 120 cultural troupes will perform at the Raj Durbar and Ranga Mahal during the festival. Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari, MLA Debesh Acharya, collector Monisha Banerjee, SP Smit P Parmar and members of the organising committee were present.
On the day, President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed their best wishes for the festival on Twitter.
This year marks the platinum jubilee of the Dhanuyatra festival. The 11-day-long event will conclude on January 6, 2023. Dhanuyatra was last held from 31 December 2019 to 10 January 2020. Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, the festival could not be organised for two consecutive years. The decision to organise Dhanuyatra this year was taken in the general body meeting held in August. Auditions for 11 different characters of Dhanuyatra were held in November.
Fifty-year-old artist Hrushikesh Bhoi, who played the role of demon king Kansa for nine years from 2009-2017, was selected to play the character once again this year. On December 25, a Rangoli Mohatsav themed on Dhanuyatra was organised by the promotion committee.
More than 300 artists participated in the event and drew rangolis on the road in front of Women’s College in Bargarh town. Similarly, on Monday, sand artist Sudam Pradhan made a 30x8 ft sculpture at Baliapanda beach in Puri to commemorate the platinum jubilee of the festival.