Mahashivratri Mahotsav, once again a memorable event

As per the practice each year, Pujya Bhaishri performed a Puja of Vishwanath Mahadev at Varanasi, Kashi on the auspicious occasion of Mahashivratri accompanied by a grand programme of music and dance offerings to Lord Vishwanath by various accomplished artistes of national and international repute.

The programme began on the night of 11th March 2002 with the Kathak dance of Shri Rajendra Gangani of Delhi along with his disciple followed by the sitarvadan of Shri Poorvaman Chatterji of Kolkata. Shri Sanjeev Abhyankar, a disciple of celebrated Pandit Jasraj presented a series of vocal recitals of various classical ragas.

12th March was the day of Mahashivratri. At 2 p.m. Pujya Bhaishri began the pujan of Lord Vishwanath along with Pujya Muniji, amidst melodious Vedic chantings of South Indian Brahmins. The musical Programme commenced at 8 p.m. with the dance performance of Sushri Sushmita Bannerji of Kolkata followed by an impressive presentation of drumbeats by Shri Shivmani, the internationally reputed drummer. In-between, Pujya Bhaishri and Pujya Muniji felicitated Pandit Kishan Maharaj the reputed tabla maestro who has been recently honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Vibhushan. Thereafter, Sushri Anupama Bhagwat from Bhilai displayed her finesse on the sitar, followed by a vocal recitation of Shri Ram Prakash Mishra, who was accompanied by Shri Ishwarlal Mishra on tabla, Shri Mannulal Mill and Shri Mahtab Khan on harmonium and Shri Santosh Mishra on Sarangi. The programme concluded with the flute recital of Shri Ronu Majumdar who was accompanied on the tabla by Pandit Kishan Maharaj.

A programme of Kavya-path, poetry reading of Padmashri Shri Bekal of Balrampur, Gondia was organized on the night of 13th March 2002. Shri Shivmani presented his drumbeats again on this concluding night making it a memorable event.