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, meaning "The City of Kings," is a historic town in the district of Nalanda in Bihar, India. As the ancient seat and capital of the Haryanka dynasty, the Pradyota dynasty, the Brihadratha dynasty and the Mauryan Empire, as well as the d ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

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

Nalanda district Nalanda district is one of the thirty-eight districts of the state of Bihar in India. Bihar Sharif is the administrative headquarters of this district. The districts contain the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara a UNESCO World Heritage site. Nalanda i ...

administration with the help of the

Government of Bihar The Government of Bihar, known locally as the State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Bihar and its 9 divisions which consist of 38 districts . It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Bihar, a jud ...

’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 India ...

, 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, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Mukesh Kumar, manager at a hotel run by the

BSTDC Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation ( hi, बिहार राज्य पर्यटन विकास निगम), (abbreviated as BSTDC), is a body of the Government of Bihar responsible for the development of tourism in the In ...

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