City of Shri Mahakaleshwar will be lit with 21 Lakh Earthen Lamps on Mahashivratri

Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan will attend the Shiv Jyoti Arpanam festival in Ujjain, the city of Lord Shri Mahakaleshwar, on the holy festival of Mahashivratri. In the festival, earthen lamps will be lit from house to house in Ujjain city including various Ghats, Devasthans, temples of Punya Salila Maa Kshipra. A target has been set to light 21 lakh earthen lamps in Shiv Jyoti Arpanam Mahotsav. For the festival, Chief Minister Shri Chouhan will attend the festival from the stage built on the umbrella of Ranoji and will light the lamp at Ramghat. On the occasion of Mahashivratri, a Mahadev programme will be organised at Triveni Art Museum, Ujjain, focusing on the art manifestations of the truth of Shiva. Starting from March 1 on Mahashivratri, this programme will go on till March 3. In this, dance drama and group dance will be presented in classical and folk dance styles along with lectures. Along with this, devotional singing, folk singing, painting camp and exhibition will also be organised.

Saints of the Akhara’s besides players, traders, students will also participate in the festival

There is immense enthusiasm among the residents of Ujjain for the festival. Arrangements have been made to light 13 lakh earthen lamps at the ghats located on the river Kshipra. In the festival, earthen lamps will be lit at Ramghat, Datta Akhara, Narsingh Ghat, Ravidas Ghat, Guru Nanak Ghat, Sunhari Ghat, etc. located on the river Kshipra. Apart from this, earthen lamps will also be illuminated at Mahakal Temple, Harsiddhi Temple, Mangalnath Temple, Gopal Mandir, Kaal Bhairav, Gadkalika and Siddha- Vat. There are plans to light a large number of earthen lamps at Tower Square, Shaheed Park, Kshirsagar and other public places with public participation. The people of the city will also light lamps in their homes. Sector in-charges have been entrusted with this whole system. Volunteers in large numbers have gathered to register the Shiv Jyoti Arpanam Festival in the Guinness World of Records. Voluntary organisations, social organisations, religious institutions, sportspersons, businessmen, students and saints of Akharas are also involved in the campaign. Altogether 21 lakh earthen lamps will be lit in temples, public places, houses including 13 lakh lamps on the ghats of river Kshipra.

Responsibility of lighting 100 Lamps on one volunteer

Door to door Deepotsav will be organised in the festival. Attractive electrical decoration will be done at all commercial places and establishments. Ujjain city will also be decorated. Seven sectors have been created for lighting lamps on the banks of river Kshipra. 3 lakh 64 thousand 132 at Ramghat, 2 lakh 12 thousand 204 at Datta Akhara, 2 lakh 21 thousand 482 at Bhukhi Mata Mandir, one lakh 74 thousand 734 at Narsinghghat Kirk Raj Mandir, one lakh 69 thousand 328 at Narsinghghat Pul Bhukhi Mata Ghat, one lakh 14 thousand 748 at Dhobighat and 50 thousand 280 lamps will be lit at Sunhari Ghat. 13 thousand volunteers will participate in the lighting of 13 lakh earthen lamps, which will be supervised by 200 observers. Six committees have been formed for this event. One volunteer will be responsible for lighting every 100 lamps. Each block will have 200 earthen lamps, each sub-zone will have 10 thousand blocks. A large number of volunteers have registered for the programme.

Programme will be organised in zero waste format

The team of Guinness World Records has reached Ujjain to record this festival as a record for lighting 21 lakh lamps simultaneously. This programme will be implemented with utmost sensitivity from the point of view of cleanliness and environment for lighting such a huge number of lamps. The effort is that the programme should be done in zero waste format. Such material is being used in the festival, whose recycling will be possible.

Artists from Ujjain, Orissa, Kerala will give cultural performances

On the occasion of Mahashivratri, a three-day programme centered on lectures, dance, music and portraiture will be held at Triveni Art Museum, Ujjain, in the art manifestations of Mahadev-Shiva Satya. On March 1, there will be a lecture by Dr. Balkrishna Sharma of Ujjain on the topic of Ardhanarishwar form and glory. Along with this, Kalyan Sundaram dance drama centred on classical and folk dance styles will be presented by Guru Atasi Mishra of Bhubaneswar and group. Ujjain’s Nitin Akhand and companions will present Shiva Mahima in devotional singing. On March 2, Shri Anand Shankar Vyas of Ujjain will deliver a lecture on the subject of Ujjayini Mahakal and the city of time calculation. Ardhanarishvara group dance in classical dance styles will be presented under the direction of Dr. Latha Idavalat of Kannur Kerala. Dr. Rajul Sindhi of Ujjain and companions will present Shiva Mahima in the form of folk singing. On the last day on March 3, Shri Manoj Shrivastava will deliver a lecture on the topic “Shiva Marriage Context: Philosophy and Demonstration”. Dr. Khushbu Panchal and companions will present Shiv Anand Tandav dance drama. Painting camp and exhibition will also be organised by the artists of Government Institute of Fine Arts, Indore.