On invitation from the Uttar Pradesh Government, Governor Droupadi Murmu visited Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj on Wednesday and praised the facilities available for the devotees.
A special pavilion by Jharkhand has been set up at Sector 19 on the fair premises offering a glimpse of the State’s art, culture and tradition.
Joint Director of tourism directorate, Rajeev Ranjan said, “The major attraction at the pavilion is the replica of Baba Dham temple of Deoghar in which a huge idol of Lord Shiva is established.
The pavilion is attracting a huge footfall every day, since its inauguration on February 1.”
The pavilion has a number of stalls offering crafts and cuisines of Jharkhand. “Around half a dozen stalls of various crafts of Jharkhand like Dokra, Sohrai painting and others and visitors are showing great interest in them,” Ranjan said.
A stall of tribal food set up by private agency ‘Jharkhand Cuisines’ in association with the tourism department is serving a variety of tribal delicacies like Dhuska, Peetha, Chilka, Madua Roti and many others. “The stall owners there have informed us that the food is sold off within two to three hours of setting up the stalls which shows that people are really enjoying it,” Ranjan said.
Cultural programmes of Jharkhand mesmerize the crowd in evenings. Ashok Kumar Singh, director, cultural directorate said, “A total of seven dance troupes will be performing at the fair. The various performances include Chhau, Paika, Nagpuri, Santhali among other local dance forms.”
The reason behind setting up the pavilion at Kumbh is to make the visitors, both national and international, familiar with the culture of Jharkhand.
Ranjan said, “This will help us in branding. Even in India, many people do not have any knowledge about the art, culture and tradition of Jharkhand.
This pavilion has helped us reach a huge crowd at one place. On Tuesday, around 5 crore people, which is 5 per centof India’s population took a dip in the holy water, even if 10,000 of them reach our stall, it will be a huge number.”