Varuna Mahotsav gets underway today

THE FOUR-DAY ?Varuna Mahotsav? will be inaugurated by Public Works and Energy Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav in Varanasi on Sunday. The mahotsav is held with an objective to preserve and protect the traditional style of dance and music.

THE FOUR-DAY ‘Varuna Mahotsav’ will be inaugurated by Public Works and Energy Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav in Varanasi on Sunday. The mahotsav is held with an objective to preserve and protect the traditional style of dance and music.

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This was stated by Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Virendra Singh while talking to media persons here on Saturday. He said the mahotsav would be inaugurated at the cultural complex. “Varuna Mahotsav has been a platform for budding artists of Varanasi and its adjoining areas for the last several years,” he said.

Singh who will preside over the inaugural function, said Mohan Lal Tyagi would give a ‘shehnai’ performance while folk artist Murari Lal Sharma of Mathura and his team would present a folk dance ‘Brij ki hori (Charkula dance)’ on Sunday. He said artists of Bundelkhand would perform ‘Raey’ dance while renowned vocal artist Chanu Lal Mishra and Tabla maestro Ashok Pandey would also perform on the inaugural day.“Kal Belia (traditional dance) and Chau dance will be performed by Puran Nath Sapera of Rajasthan and Shristi Dhar Mehto of Jharkhand respectively on Monday,” he said adding local folk artists Shail Bala, Mamta Singh and Prabhakar Joshi would stage a nautanki and Lorik music on Monday, too.

Singh said a musical competition for school kids would be organised from February 27 to March 1. Children from more than 20 schools would take part, he said. It may be mentioned that as part of the Varuna Mahotsav, a two-day animal and agriculture fair was also organised.