HAMPI: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah inaugurated the Hampi Utsav-2015, a three-day mega cultural festival of dance, art, music and drama, at Hampi, here on Friday evening.
However, the inauguration of the function got delayed by over an hour, owing to the delay on the part of Chief Minister Siddramaiah and his Cabinet colleagues, who were waiting for the audience to converge at the venue.
Mr. Siddaramaiah offered floral tributes to the idol of Goddess Bhuvaneshwari and lit the lamp to mark the inauguration of the cultural extravaganza.
Prior to the inauguration, Janapada Kalavahini — a procession of artistes of various folk forms dressed in their traditional attire — was taken out.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Siddaramaiah, recalled the contributions late M.P. Prakash, whose brain child is the Hampi Utsav.
“The kings of Mysuru continued the tradition of the Vijayanagar kings after the fall of Vijayanagar Empire, which had a glorious past . On reading these accounts, one can imagine the kind of great tradition and culture we had in the past and how our rulers had contributed to nurturing tradition, culture, art, music and drama. To introduce the glorious culture of the State to the young generation, we are organising cultural utsavs all over. Our government is committed to promoting tradition and culture, ” he said.
P.T. Parmeshwar Naik, Minister of State for Labour and district in-charge, delivered the opening remarks.
Roshan Baig, Minister for Information, who presided, said that he was instrumental in forming Hampi World Heritage Area Management Authority, for the systematic development of Hampi.
Hampi Utsav starts on a grand note
Pending formal inauguration, Hampi Utsav, a three day mega-festival got off with a bang at Hampi, the erstwhile seat of Vijayanagar empire, on Friday.
The cultural extravaganza of dance, drama, art and music, will be formally inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the evening.
Hampi-by-sky, a colourful flower show, kite flying, rural sports were among prominent attractions of this year’s Hampi Utsav, were inaugurated by P.T. Parmeshwar Naik, Minister of State for Labour and district in-charge. Hampi-by-sky, which was a major hit during the previous year’s utsav, was reintroduced this year too in view of the huge demand.
People, who wanted to catch a glimpse of the ancient monuments and natural landscape at the historically and culturally rich Hampi, booked their tickets in advance. Serpentine queue formed in front of the counters to get the tickets on-the-spot.
“It was a thrilling experience to view Hampi from the sky”, Reshma, Sumalatha and their friends, who enjoyed the chopper ride for the first time, said.
The ‘stone chariot’ prepared using nine variety of flowers, mostly different coloured roses, was another attraction at the flower show organised for the first time during the cultural festival. Apart from that renowned litterateurs and ‘Jnanapeeth’ awardees carved on water melons and other vegetables, were also on display.
“We appreciate the attempt of providing an opportunity to the local artistes to exhibit their talents and also given an opportunity to people to enjoy”, Sujata, a teacher, said.
Kites of various shapes and sizes flooded the sky which attracted a large number of people. Professional kite flyers from Varodra, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bidar were invited by the organisers. This event would be held on all the three days.
Kabaddi, boulder lifting, among other rural sports along with a book exhibition were also inaugurated.
