Rajgir Mahotsav

Rajgir Mahotsav राजगीर महोत्सव
logo of Rajgir Mahotsav
Status	active
Genre	festivals
Venue	Quila Maidan
Location(s)	Rajgir, Nalanda district, Bihar
Country	India
Years active	1986-89 1994-present
Inaugurated	4 April 1986 (1986-04-04)
Most recent	28–30 December 2013[1]
Next event	2014
Attendance	approx. 1 lakh (2013)[2]
Budget	90 lakh[2]
Website
nalanda.bih.nic.in/rajgirmahotsav.htm

Rajgir Mahotsav (festival), formerly Rajgir Nritaya (Dance) Mahotsav^[3] is a festival of dance and music. It was started in 1986, is an annual three day event at Rajgir in Bihar, India. It is organized by Nalanda district administration with the help of Government of Bihar’s Department of Culture and Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation.^[4]

Overview

Bindeshwari Dubey, the then Chief Minister of Bihar, had inaugurated the festival in Swarna Bhadar area of Rajgir on April 4, 1986.^[5] The Tourism Department of Bihar Government had sponsored festival until 1989. After 1989, event abandoned for reasons unknown. Few years later in 1994, it was again started and since then, it is an annual event in the calendar of Bihar Government.^[5]

Various competitions on Tonga race, martial arts competitions, mehndi contest, mahila utsav, food plaza, gramshree mela etc. have been introduced recently besides organizing performance by artists of national and international repute. Qila Maidan located in the backdrop of Ratnagiri hills is its current venue.^[5]

References