From the divine she flowed: Day 3 of Mahua Festival celebrates the story of Maa Kshipra

Bhopal: The third day of the Mahua Festival at the Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum in Shyamla Hills took a deeply spiritual turn on Sunday, as the theme centred around river Kshipra, the sacred river of Malwa, and the evening’s main performance, titled ‘Vishnu Putri: Kshipra,’ became a dance and storytelling act that left many in the audience visibly moved.

The performance told the story of Maa Kshipra not as just a river that flows through the heart of India, but as a living presence, a mother, a natural force that has been with this sacred land long before anyone can imagine. Through dance and music, the performers showed the deep bond that rivers in India have always shared with faith, with Mahadev, and with the people who live along their banks.

What stood out and fascinated the audience was the voice the performance gave to the river itself. Maa Kshipra, through the act, reflected her own origin—not born from the melting ice of mountains, neither named after a raining cloud, but flowing from a higher source altogether. She described herself as part of that great divine consciousness that the world knows as Narayan, the white light that flowed from his finger, taking the form of a river, and hence that’s how the performance was named ‘Vishnu Putri: Kshipra.’

The message running through the entire performance was simple: we are all beloved children of Maa Kshipra. The dance, the words, and the music together made that feel true, even for those hearing it for the first time. The performance was directed by Sangeeta Sharma from Delhi, written by Yogesh Tripathi from Rewa, and the music was composed by Kuldeep Sarkha from Durg.