12th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav concludes with grand finale in Hyderabad

The Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav, the flagship festival of this Ministry, has been organised since 2015 with the active participation of Seven Zonal Culture Centres.

Under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the 12th edition of the Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav (RSM) concluded with a grand finale in Hyderabad on 3rd April. The festival that was conducted over a period of 7 days started as a two-day event in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh on 26th and 27th March, travelled to Warangal on 29th and 30th of March before culminating with a grand event in Hyderabad on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of April.

The Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav was attended by various dignitaries including Vice President of India Sri Venkaiah Naidu, Governor of Telangana Smt Tamilsai Soundararajan, Governor Sri Biswabhushan Harichandan; Governor of Tamil Nadu, Sri R.N Ravi;Union Minister of Culture, Tourism and DoNER, Sri G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of State for Culture, and Parliamentary Affairs, Sri Arjun Ram Meghwal; Union Minister of State for Culture, and External Affairs Smt Meenakshi Lekhi.

Various artists including Smt Ananda Shankar Jayant, Padmasri awardee; Key Classical Music Performers Sri P. Jaya Bhaskar; Dr. L Subramaniam, along with popular music performers Shankar-Eshaan-Loy took part in the event.

The Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav, the flagship festival of this Ministry, has been organised since 2015 with the active participation of Seven Zonal Culture Centres. The 12th edition of the Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav has been instrumental in showcasing and reinforcing the 3Cs of our heritage - Culture, Craft and Cuisine. The RSM has been playing a pivotal role to take the vibrant cultural diversity of India out to the masses instead of confining it to auditoria and galleries.

The festival has been instrumental in presenting folk and tribal art, dance, music, cuisines and culture of one state in other states to achieve the cherished goal of "Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat" and at the same time providing an effective platform to the artists and artisans to support their livelihood. Eleven editions of RSM have been held till date since November, 2015 in various states and cities such as Delhi, Varanasi, Bengaluru, Tawang, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tehri, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

This is the first instance of the RSM event in the Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the events saw record attendance in all locations. The event also saw close to 10 Padma Awardees grace the stage either as RSM Brand Ambassadors or as performers and also felicitated eminent citizens from all walks of life.

Stage Performances

At the same time, the folk and tribal art, dance, music, cuisines & culture that are being demonstrated provide an effective platform for the artists and artisans to support their livelihood. Approximately 1000 performing artists, culinary artists and craftsmen exhibited their skills and display India's rich cultural heritage.

The 12th edition of the RSM assumes even more significance owing to the grand vision and the fact that it was taking place as we are emerging out of the COVID-19 pandemic which has severely impacted the livelihoods of performing artists, especially folk artistes. Through this event the ministry has been able to provide the much-needed support and assistance to the artists from across the country. The RSM provided a platform for the Government of India to partner with local governments in supporting artists from the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by conducting Shobha Yatras, and organising local performance on stage.

The RSM also provided an opportunity to pay rich tributes to popular artists including but not limited to Ms. Lata Mangeshkar, Bharat Ratna awardee on the occasion of her recent sadgati, Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao, Padmashri awardee and legendary Telugu Music Director on the occasion of his 100th birth anniversary. SP Balasubramanyam, Padma Vibhushan on the occasion of his sadgati in 2020 and Sirivennela Sitarama Shastri, Padmashri awardee on the occasion of his sadgati in 2021.

The finale folk performance included 540 folk artists in the following traditions:

Shandol from Ladakh

Lavani from Maharashtra

Rai from Madhya Pradesh

Lambadi from Telangana

Karsha from Jharkhand

Rauff from J & K

Norta from Uttar Pradesh

Jat-jatin from Bihar

Sangatham Naga from Nagaland

Gharasia dance from Rajasthan

Badhai from Madhya Pradesh

Mayur dance from Uttar Pradesh

Jagor from Uttrakhand

Sangrai Mog from Tripura

Cherow from Mizoram

Lai haroba from Manipur

Bardoishikhala from Assam

Gunti from Arunachal Pradesh

Dangi rom Gujarath

Paidanda from Uttar Pradesh

Sirmori Nati from Himachal Pradesh

Ka shad masti from Meghalaya

Panthi from Chhattisgarh

Sambalpuri from Odisa

Siddhi Dhamal from Gujarat

Chau from West Bengal

Craft Stalls and Exhibitions

The various craft stalls set-up were able to showcase the various craft traditions across India. Apart from the craft stalls, there was an exhibition on prominent Telugu freedom fighters set up by the Ministry of Culture and Regional Outreach Bureau (ROB-M/o Information & Broadcasting)), Hyderabad and a painting exhibition of Freedom fighter Alluri Sitarama Raju by the Madeti Rajaji Memorial Art Academy.

(With Inputs from PIB)