Dr Karan Singh inaugurates ‘The Tawi Festival’ displaying grandeur of Dogra Culture
JAMMU, FEB 25: Three-day ‘The Tawi Festival’ commenced here amid fanfare with the event inaugurated by former Governor and Founder of the Amar Mahal Museum & Library, Dr. Karan Singh who is a patron of art, culture and traditions of Jammu region.
After the traditional inauguration of the festival, Dr Karan Singh presented the welcome address enlightening the august gathering about the richness of Dogra culture and tradition and the role of festivals in preserving and promoting culture.
Dr Karan Singh said that for the first time in the history of Jammu a Kavi Sammelan/ Utsav is being organized along Tawi as an essential component of this rare event. He said “My daughter Dr. Jyotsna Singh has arranged everything here to make the festival a platform for sharing cultural knowledge and information besides providing a bunch of cultural programmes for entertainment. Elaborate arrangements have been made by Dr Jyotsna Singh to hold musical programmes, besides ensuring to make the people aware about the Dogra cuisines and traditional Dogra dresses that form an essential part of Dogra culture. Not only this, the visitors will get an opportunity to view the only Nal-Damyanti painting collection which is available nowhere in the world except here. Moreover, there is also a big library here which contains a rare collection of books on every subject especially pertaining to culture, history, religion, etc.
Pertinent to mention that Tawi Festival was curated by Dr. Jyotsna Singh with the valuable assistance of Lalit Gupta, Art Historian, Suman Gupta and Rajinder Tikkoo, Senior Artists, Kirpal Singh, former Curator, Dogra Art Museum and Bhavneet Kaur, author.
Dr Jyotsna Singh, Director of the Amar Mahal Museum & Library and a member of the erstwhile Dogra Royal Family, in her address, said that the purpose of holding three-day Tawi Festival is to revive the rich traditions and culture of Jammu region. She has ensured that the visitors to the festival get an amazing experience as it will connect the present to the past as far as Dogra culture, arts and tradition is concerned and will play a significant role in enriching the knowledge of the present day youth and children about their own Dogra culture. She assured that visitors will enjoy a guided walk through the Nala-Damayanti Painting Gallery at the Darbar Hall that will take them centuries back down the memory lane. She said that other attractions at the festival include demonstration and display of Basohli and Kangra miniature paintings from the Basohli Atelier by Sohan Bilawaria and his students and representing the Guru Shishya Parampara with active support of the Hari Tara Charitable Trust.
Later, a programme displaying Dogri costume by Kanwarni Ritu Singh and Mrs Anshu Khanna mesmerized the visitors. The event was organized in collaboration with Royal Fables at Drawing Room, Maharani Suite, 1st Floor Amar Mahal Museum and Library Jammu.
Prominent among others who attended today’s programme included Rajendra Pawar, Chairman NIIT Group and Ms. Anusha Khanna, Founder of Royal Fables.
Traditional folk artist, Asha Rani, a Bhaakh exponent and troupe, who was one of the few living practitioners of some genres of the traditional vocal music of the region, mesmerized the audience with their scintillating performance.
During the exhibition, INTACH Jammu Chapter also displayed the project report, vision documents, brochures, documentations of wall paintings of built heritage, literature, heritage education, etc. in the Tawi Festival as a part heritage awareness programme. Straw and bamboo craft items, Kalira, Agarbattis, Samdan (Pooja Woods), homemade pickle and other items of Puja Hamper prepared by women of Self Help Groups of Old Vaishno Devi route were also prepared.
Dr Jyotsana Singh expressed gratitude to Rajendar Tiku, Suman Gupta, Ravinder Jamwal, Bhushan Kesar, Kamal Nain Bhan, Sat Pal Deol, Jasleen Singh, Manoj Chopra, Milan Sharma, Vikas Dogra and Rakesh Kumar for their overwhelming support in making their art festival successful.
