With winter’s gentle pink hues descending on Bhopal, the valleys are ready to resonate once again with the colours of Vishwarang. The Tagore International Literature and Arts Festival, in its seventh edition, will unfold over four days from November 27 to 30 at the sprawling Ravindra Bhavan campus. Organised by Rabindranath Tagore University and Vishwarang Foundation with support from the Madhya Pradesh Department of Culture and over 50 Indian and international institutions, it is poised to be Asia’s largest cultural gathering hosted by a non-governmental body.
Representatives from over 65 countries and prominent Indian thinkers, scholars, and experts will converge to showcase living shared culture. More than 80 sessions from November 27-30 will serve as open platforms for dialogue, discourse, and artistic expression.
Director of Vishwarang and Chancellor of Rabindranath Tagore University, Shri Santosh Choubey, announced: “the journey of Vishwarang, which began in 2019, has now reached its seventh milestone—broader, deeper, and more vibrant than ever. The caravan that began in Bhopal has traveled through Mauritius, Sri Lanka, New Delhi, and Mumbai, returning to Bhopal with renewed energy and confidence.”
The festival will open on November 27 at 6 PM with a spectacular Shobha Yatra, followed by the inaugural ceremony in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Governor Shri Mangubhai Patel, former Mauritius President Mr Prithvirajsing Roopun, State Culture Minister Shri Dharmendra Bhavsingh Lodhi, and Shri Santosh Choubey.
Notable personalities include Faisal Malik, Divya Dutta, Swanand Kirkire, Radhakrishnan Pillai, Priya Malik, Neelotpal Mrinal, Saurabh Dwivedi, Devdutt Pattanaik, Sumit Awasthi, and Pushpesh Pant.
Vishwarang honorary awards
Six eminent Indian-language litterateurs will be honoured on November 27 evening:
• Smt. Mamta Kalia (Hindi)
• Shri. Harish Meenashru (Gujarati)
• Shri. Chandrabhan Khayal (Urdu)
• Shri. H.N. Shivaprakash (Kannada)
• Shri. Laxman Gaikwad (Marathi)
• Shri. Paresh Narendra Kamat (Konkani)
The festival will conclude on November 29 at 6 PM in Hans Dhwani Auditorium, where winners of the World Hindi Olympiad will also be felicitated.
Thousands have already registered online, drawn to what Dr Siddharth Chaturvedi described as a festival that is “as traditional as it is innovative.”
