Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board had launched several events as part of the Nimar Utsav and this was one of them.
Next day, I chose to spend the morning joining a Handloom Walk. The state’s tourism minister lit the ceremonial lamp to launch the programme, which was followed by a martial arts demonstration, an awards giving ceremony and cultural programmes. After a bite of some home-made local savouries at the food kiosks set up by local women, I traced my way back to the main venue. While the priests raised the huge lamps and offered prayers to the river goddess Narmada, the crowd too joined in the chanting. Meanwhile the fort was also illuminated with coloured lights.Ī snatch of holy tunes over the microphone reminded me that here too an evening ‘arati’ was organised daily. As the sun went down, the crowd regrouped along the bank to set the lamps afloat in the river. In the late afternoon, there was a competition themed on the best decorated boats. Local welfare organisations had also set up stalls in the cenotaph complex in the fort.
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Although messages regarding how to contain the COVID-19 virus appeared to be the common theme, only few among the participants and the spectators wore masks. Local people, mostly students, participated in the contest. The Rangoli contest had already begun by the time I arrived after an uphill walk to the fort. The official inauguration of the Nimar Utsav was scheduled for the evening but the events had begun since morning at different venues.
Some dispersed to sightsee around the town, some hired the local boats for a sail up and down the river, while others – mostly women- settled down on the steps to fashion small lamps made of flour. The first day of the festival (November 19 to 21 this year) had coincided with Kartik Purnima, an auspicious day celebrated across India, including observing the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.Īs I walked along the length of the river bank (there are a number of Ghats here of which the Ahilya Ghat is the most popular), I found people taking holy dips in the river followed by prayers offered to the many Shivlingam dotting the upper tier of the Ghats. The eastern gate of the fort leads to the highly sculpted cenotaphs (‘chhatri’) from where you can go down to the bank of the river.
Although various claims date the original fort to old times, the present structure was largely designed by the queen when she moved her capital here. Having arrived the same day from Indore, the nearest airport city, a little over 90km away by road, I checked into Narmada Resort, the tourist lodge operated by Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation, and rushed to the long row of Ghats stretching along the Narmada River flowing beneath the 18 th century fort, the royal seat of Rani Ahilyabai Holkar, who reigned between 17. In its 28 th year, the festival was a huge draw, especially since it had to be cancelled last year owing to the pandemic. I was in the pilgrim town of Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, waiting for the official inauguration of the Nimar Utsav (Nimar Festival). If I had any doubts about finding a seat, it was soon amended as strangers made way and helped me settle down too. In front was a huge decorated stage with government officials of all denominations hurrying here and there, getting ready to welcome the VIPs who were about to enter. Long before the programme started, people had started occupying the broad stone steps that led up from the river bank to the massive fort that loomed overhead.
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