Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi today attended the ongoing Dhanu Jatra at Odisha’s Bargarh town.

The Chief Minister visited the court of Kansa Maharaj, the main attraction of the annual festival.

Majhi rode an elephant to reach the court of King Kansa from Kalyan Mandap area at Bargarh.

Bargarh MLA Ashwini Kumar Sarangi, Attabira MLA Nihar Ranjan Mahanand, Bijepur MLA Sanat Kumar Gartia and Bhatli MLA Irasis Acharya among others were present on the occasion.

The annual festival, considered as the largest open-air theatre in the world, was inaugurated on January 3. It is scheduled to conclude on January 13.

The festival is celebrated across 8-km radius at Bargarh municiplaity and its nearby areas. It is enacted on the theme of ‘Mathura Vijay’, which depicts the victory of Lord Krishna against his uncle and demon king Kansa.

The entire Bargarh town is decked up as Mathura while nearby Ambapali village turns into mythological Gopapura for the drama-based open-air theatrical performance.

The Jeera river, located close to Bargarh, is considered as Yamuna during Dhanu Jatra. Each and every resident of Bargarh consider themselves as the subjects of demon king Kansa during the festival. Several episodes related to the childhood of Lord Krishna and Lord Balaram are enacted during the 11-day festival.

The people of Bargarh have been organising the festival since 1947. According to locals, Dhanu Jatra was first organised at Bargarh in 1947 to celebrate the independence of India from the British rule.

This year, the state government raised the financial grants for Bargarh Dhanu Jatra to Rs 1 crore from the existing Rs 10 lakh to elevate the festival to international status.

Besides, the state government earmarked additional Rs 50 lakh for the promotion and live broadcast of the festival.

The government also announced to provide an honorarium of Rs 10,000 each to as many as 170 prominent artistes associated with the festival.

During his first term as Odisha Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik had attended Bargarh Dhanu Jatra in 2002.

Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo and Biju Patnaik had attended the festival during their tenures as Odisha Chief Minister in 1970 and 1993 respectively.