Rekhta Foundation's Anjas Mahotsav to celebrate Rajasthan's cultural heritage, tradition

To celebrate and preserve the rich traditions and culture of Rajasthan, the first edition of Anjas Mahotsav will be organised in the last week of October, organiser Rekhta Foundation announced on Thursday.

The two-day gala is likely to be inaugurated by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Maharaja of Jodhpur Gaj Singh on October 29-30 at Garh Govind in Jodhpur. In its first edition, the literary and cultural festival will bring together a range of genres and art forms of the state such as literature, theatre, academia, performing arts, music, films, crafts, and various other intangible cultural practices, the organisers said in a statement.

Folk artistes, craftspersons and literary personalities including famous singers Ila Arun, Ustad Anwar Khan Manganiyar, Mame Khan, and Mukhtiyar Ali, Rajasthani poets Arjun Deo Charan, Madhu Acharya, Aidan Singh Bhati, and Chandra Prakash Deval among others will take part in Anjas Mahotsav.

The event will also witness sessions by ''Bandish Bandits''-fame actor Rajesh Tailang, musician Nathulal Solanki, and musical group Barmer Boys.

Talking about Rekhta's latest initiative, founder Sanjiv Saraf said that the foundation of Anjas was laid ''to ignite the revival and rejuvenation of Rajasthani language and tradition of the people of Rajasthan''.

''Owing to its exclusion from the 8th schedule of constitution, the only way to learn Rajasthani is as a mother tongue. The multitude and richness of Rajasthani cultures and traditions are fading with the passing of time due to the lack of institutional infrastructure. ''We are on a vital turn of evolution where the mode of preservation is changing. Owing to the presence of technologies, today it is possible to preserve and enhance the accessibility of any language and literature more than ever,'' Saraf said.

During the Anjas Mahotsav, Rekhta Foundation will also formally launch a first-of-its-kind digital repository of Rajasthani language's textual and oral literary tradition - Anjas.org. The foundation said that it is the ''first and most comprehensive'' online repository of its kind in Rajasthani.

''So far, 4,000 works of over 400 ranging from classical age poets like Chandbardai to modern-age writers such as Vijaydan Detha have been updated on the website,'' it said.

Apart from documenting the literature available in text, the initiative is also creating an archive of ancient oral traditions - from food to music to lores in Rajasthan, through its Oral Memory Project, the organisation said.

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