NALBARI RAKH MOHOTSAV, A projct for school students on local festival

NALBARI RAKH MOHOTSAV

Nalbari is a prominent town in Assam. It is almost  60 KM away from Guwahati city. Nalbari is popularly known for the biggest festival all over assam, that is RAKH MOHOTSAV. It is generally celebrated in the historical tample SRI SRI HARI MANDIR. It is situated in the middle of the Nalbari Town.

The history of the Nalbari Hari Mandir is correlated with the Ras Mahotsav being organized in Nalbari district since the last century. The evolution of the Hari Mandir is been a saga of decades.  In 1933, Ras Puja Committee was formed to organize the Puja. In that year, with the help of public donation, the Ras Puja was orgaznied publicly at the Hatkhola (old) of Nalbari. At that time the Ras Puja was initiated religiously and was a occasion of 3 days. Soon after few years, the Ras Puja became popular and the organizers had to think about a new place for the Puja, as the need of wider place arised . In year 1939, the foundation of the Mandir (currently the old mandir) was imposed with the 4 wooden post of Shal. which was completed in in 1965. With help of his donation the Puja Mandap was constructed in 1968.

At the initial ages, the Ras Mahotsava was a occassion of 3 days, but Now the Ras Mahotsava is being organized as a festival of 11 to 15 days .With the change of ages, the popularity of Ras Puja increased year by year, so the growth of the Mandir  too. Very sooner  the Ras Puja festival turnd from Utsava to Mahotsava with the continuation of public interest, co operation & donation. Each year Rakh is being celebrated in this Hari Mandir. This year it was celebrate from 3 nov. to 14 Nov,2017. It lasted for 12 days. This is the main gate’s statue of Lord SRI KRISHNA, which I captured in my camera during rakh. Its looked amazing, the photo is looked alike the original scenario. But its tough to believe that those are status and made of straw and mud only

 Thousands of people visited Sri Sri Harimandir, the venue of the famous .A large crowd attended the Rakh festival. The visit of thousands of people every day has transformed the small town into a sea of humanity. This photo had been taken at night around 9’0 clock among the huge crowd.

The spectacular electric lighting also has added a new look to the town. Around 600 clay models that have been displayed at the festival are attracting the visitors. The colourful cultural programmes at night have also enthralled the visitors. Nagara naam and Kamrupiya dhulia competitions were also organised by the Raas celebration committee. Moreover, nine mobile theatre groups have been performing two shows every night.

The Nalbari district administration has been keeping a strict vigil to maintain a peaceful atmosphere during the celebrations.Personally I am very thankful to them. Really those twelve days we enjoyed a lot. Still I am missing our rakh. And  eagerly waiting for the next year.

 composer- Hitesh Prankul Barman

M-9085881642

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