Mahashivratri Celebrations at Varanasi, India

Under the auspices of Pujya Bhaishri commenced the three day Mahashivratri festival at Varanasi on the 16th of February with a Kavya Mehfil at Sant Kripa Bhavan. Every year the Seth Kishorilal Jalan Seva Trust celebrates the Mahashivratri with a 2-3 day festival with Indian classical music and dance performances.

This year too the festival began with famous kavis like Shri Dr. Nawaz Devbandi and Shri Vijendra Singh Parvaz of Meerut reciting their best of kavitas and ghazals. Respectable Shri Kishan Maharaj graced the occasion too.

The 17th an 18th night artists from various parts of the country performed their best in classical dance, vocal and instrumental. Shri Rajiv Bhattacharya from Kolkata performed Oddissi and Kumari Gargi Malkani from Ranchi performed Kathak. Vocalists were Smt. Meeta Pandit from Delhi and Smt. Aarti Ankelkar from Mumbai. Smt. Kamla Shankar played the violin and Shri Rajiv Janardan from Delhi played the Sitar. Shri Tarun Bhattacharya from Kolkata played the Santoor accompanied by Shri Vikram Ghosh from Kolkata on the Tabla.

Pujya Bhaishri performed the Rudrabhishek on the 18th on the auspicious day of Shivratri and also went for darshan to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.