Deepotsav: 15-member Sri Lankan cultural team to participate in Ayodhya fest
New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh Government has invited a 15-member Sri Lankan cultural team to take part in the Ayodhya Deepotsav 2021, being held from November 1 to 5.
Before their departure on Saturday last (October 30), the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Gopal Baglay interacted with the delegation and emphasized the importance of cultural and spiritual interactions in further strengthening the centuries-old ties between India and Sri Lanka.
The Ayodhya Research Institute, Department of Culture, Government of Uttar Pradesh, will host the Sri Lankan team, led by Gnanakumar Sithambaram and Gayathri Suveendran, members of the Sri Lankan Chapter of the Global Encyclopedia of Ramayana Project, and Kalasuri Shrimati Vasugy Jegatheeswaran, a renowned Bharatha Natyam guru at Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre and Natya Kala Mandhir in Colombo.
Milinda Moragoda, Sri Lankan High Commissioner in India, handed over a symbolic sacred specimen from Seetha Amman Temple in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, to the Chief Priest of the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya on Thursday.
Cultural troupes from India and overseas, including Sri Lanka, will perform at different events inspired by the epic Ramayana.
Since 2017, Uttar Pradesh is celebrating Deepotsav on the eve of Diwali in Ayodhya. Around 500 drones will create Ramayana images on Ayodhya’s skyline for the fifth edition of Deepotsav.
In 2019, the Deepotsava witnessed the lighting of over 5.5 lakh earthen lamps (diyas), a world record. The festival could not be held in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
(Venkatesh Iyer)
