Rajgir Mahotsav or festival, formerly Rajgir Nritaya (Dance) Mahotsav, is a festival of dance and music. It is an annual three-day event in

Rajgir Rajgir, old name Rajagriha, meaning "The City of Kings," is an ancient city and university town in the Nalanda district of Bihar, India. It was the capital of the Haryanka dynasty, the Pradyota dynasty, the Brihadratha dynasty, the Maurya ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

, India, that was first held in 1986. It is organized by the

Nalanda district Nalanda district is one of the thirty-eight Districts of Bihar, districts of the state of Bihar in India. Bihar Sharif is the administrative headquarters of this district. The districts is home to the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara a UNESCO World He ...

administration with the help of the

Government of Bihar Bihar Government is the State governments of India, state government of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Bihar and its nine Divisions of Bihar, divisions which consist of Districts of Bihar, districts. It consists of an execut ...

’s Department of Culture and Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation.

Overview

Bindeshwari Dubey Bindeshwari Dubey (14 January 1921 – 20 January 1993) was a freedom fighter, trade unionist and politician who served as Chief Minister of Bihar between 12 March 1985 and 13 February 1988. Dubey was involved in the nationalisation of Indian ...

, the then Chief Minister of Bihar, had inaugurated the festival in Swarna Bhadar area of Rajgir on 4 April 1986. 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. 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. In 2016, Rajgir Mahotsav was organized from 25 to 27 November. In 2017, Rajgir Mahotsav will be organized from 25 to 27 November. After Successful Rajgir Mahotsav of 2019, Rajgir Mahotsav of 2020 was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Mukesh Kumar, manager at a hotel run by the BSTDC said that in 2020 also, majority of the state tourism functions were cancelled due to Covid. “Events like Buddha Purnima, Rajgir Mahotsav and Sonepur fair had to be cancelled,” he said.

References

{{reflist Festivals in Bihar Nalanda district Culture of Bihar 1986 establishments in Bihar Music festivals established in 1986 Rajgir