3-day national Ramayan festival in Chhattisgarh from Thursday

RAIPUR: For the first time on the land of Chhattisgarh, a three-day long national Ramayan festival would be held from June 1 at the historic Ramleela Maidan in Raigarh district and chief minister Bhupesh Baghel would inaugurate the event with participants coming from several other states and abroad.
Amidst an air of excitement among people and the stage all decked up, preparations are on full swing for the Ramayan festival that will mainly be centered on the theme of ‘Aranya Kand’ of the epic.
The presentations of Ramkatha based on the ‘Aranya Kand’ will be performed by national and international troupes from Indonesia and Combodia. Aranya Kand is a part of Tulsidas Ramcharitmanas and Valmiki Ramayan, which narrates the days of Lord Rama's years of exile along with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman.
In Chhattisgarh, there are nine identified holy places that are included under the Ram-Van-Gaman tourism circuit and is believed to have connection with Lord Ram’s journey during his years of exile. It is believed that Lord Shri Ram spent most of his exile period in the forest of Dandakaranya in Chhattisgarh as mentioned in Valmiki’s Ramayan.
The stage performance of Ramayan is prevalent in South-Eastern countries as well.
On the first day, a competition will be held between groups coming from Uttarakhand, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh on the theme Aranya Kand while on second day, the performers from Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, and Chhattisgarh would participate. The winning teams will be awarded at the closing ceremony.
These groups from other states and abroad have gained a special place in presenting the Ram katha in various art forms and some of them specialize in presenting ‘Aranya Kand’ as a special feature.
Besides, a group recitation of ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ would be done on all three days by local artists and priests, soon after the programme would begin. Kelo Mahaarti and Deep Daan will be organized for the closing ceremony. A march past will be performed by foreign and interstate artists on this occasion.
The three-day event will feature daily performances by eminent national level artists including those from Indian Idol and Saregama. Artists Shanmukha Priya and Sharad Sharma, will participate in the event on June 1 and famous singers Baba Hansraj Raghuvanshi and Lakhbir Singh Lakha will present their musical performances on June 2. Famous Bhajan singer Maithili Thakur and popular poet Kumar Vishwas will present their renditions of the story of Lord Shri Ram on June 3.