A beautiful, innovative and inspiring Ayodha Art Festival, at the holy land of Ayodhya was concluded by Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji and Pujya Mahant Nritya Gopal Dasji blessing and awarding the finalists in the grande finale of the three day festival. Thousands of artists applied, a few hundred were selected and only a handful were selected as finalists. The Festival was made possible by the Mayor of Ayodhya, Rishikesh Upadhyay, and co-curated by Shantanu Gupta & Pushkar Sharma.
The top three award recipients received cash prizes. The festival had the theme “Rama and his Life,” with focus on 10 different episodes of his life, including Bal-kand, Ayodhya-kand, Aranya-kand, Sundar-kand, Lanka-Kand, Utarra-Kand, Lav-Kush-Kand and Ram Darbaar. They were showcased in wall to wall elaborate paintings, painted across Ayodhya in the form of murals depicting different events of the Ramayana.
Beautiful, innovative & inspiring #AyodhaArtFestival, at the holy land of #Ayodhya was concluded by Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji – Muniji and #PujyaMahantNrityaGopalDasji.
Read more here: https://t.co/um7ovUCPPY pic.twitter.com/3vVpGBQPa9— Parmarth Niketan (@ParmarthNiketan) October 19, 2018
So beautiful to be here in the sacred land of Ayodhya for the @ayodhyaartfest – the talent of India blossoms on every wall as we celebrate the life and message of Bhagwan Ram in Janam Bhumi. #inspiration #artwithapurpose #soletsdoit #togetherwecan #bethechange #AyodhyaArtFest pic.twitter.com/QfPSJsXg7t
— Pujya Swamiji (@PujyaSwamiji) October 14, 2018
Pujya Swamiji gave an electrifying speech to a large audience of passionate youngsters saying, “Time has come that we make the entire nation our canvas and paint it in the colors of cleanliness, sustainability, harmony and peace. It is these colors that are depicted in the life and example of Bhagawan Rama. Let us not only celebrate with great zeal, passion and energy the Ramayan but also with equal energy the teachings of Bhagawan Ram in our lives. He was the perfect son, king and man and we must exemplify his example as much as possible. In this way not only will we be able to successfully restore the Ram Mandir but at the same time resurrect the Rashtrya Mandir.”
”Let us make the entire nation our canvas & paint in it the colours of #swachhta, sustainability, harmony & peace, it is these colours that are depicted in the life of Lord Rama.“ @PujyaSwamiji at the #AyodhyaArtFestival & invites it to Haridwar, Rishikesh & the #KumbhMela2019! pic.twitter.com/QDRcLN2Z67
— Pujya Swamiji (@PujyaSwamiji) October 19, 2018
He invited the organizers, and they agreed, to host such an Art Festival in Haridwar and Rishikesh as well as at the Kumbh Mela.
Two special books by Shantanu Gupta “How a Yogi Became CM” and Shubhram Srivastava “Nandi ki Ayodhya Yatra” got launched by Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji – Muniji of Parmarth Niketan in the presence of Mahant Nritya Gopal Das Ji, Meenakshi Jain, Rishikesh Upadhyay (Mayor, Ayodhya), Col Ashok Kini and other dignitaries.