Cliffhanger

Patna, Dec. 15: This year, adventure tourism and trekking will be two more reasons to attend Rajgir Mahotsav, to be held from December 18 to 20.

The tourism department has made necessary arrangements for those willing to try their hands in adventure sports like rock climbing, parasailing and paragliding at Rajgir, around 110km south-east of Patna.

Revellers will have to pay nominal charges for enjoying adventure sports, tourism department director Vinay Kumar said today in the presence of tourism minister Sunil Kumar and the department’s principal secretary Deepak Kumar.

The tourism department’s principal secretary said that those willing to enjoy the sports would have to pay only a nominal charge.

“If we get encouraging response to adventure sports, we may think in terms of making them a regular feature at Rajgir,” he said.

As far as trekking is concerned, the department has identified five trails. Each one of them has been graded on the basis of difficulty-level. “These trails would be open for tourists during the Rajgir Mahotsav,” said the tourism department director.

After dishing out special package to attract foreign tourists, the tourism department has got very encouraging response from people abroad. Around 150 foreign tourists have made bookings for the Mahotsav.

Around 50 foreign tourists would go directly to Rajgir and stay there. Seventy have opted to stay in Gaya and the rest in Patna.

“Foreign tourists staying in Patna and Gaya would be provided free transportation facility. Special arrangements would be made to provide escort to the tourists going to Rajgir from Patna and Gaya,” said the tourism minister.

Giving reasons for making the Mahotsav a three-day event this year, the minister said: “The department wanted to give the local artistes a chance to showcase their talent before the tourists. So, we decided to add one more day to the event.”

The prominent local artistes who would perform in the event include folk singer Satyendra Kumar. Swarangan group will stage folk dance and the live performance of Anudhwani, a popular band of Bihar, would be a must-see event.

Besides the local performers, nationally acclaimed artistes would also perform at the event. The most prominent among them would be playback singer Shaan. He would perform on Deember 20.

Female playback singers Jaspinder Narula and Sapna Awasthi, too, would perform at the Mahotsav.

While Narula would give her performance on December 18, Sapna would make her appearance on December 19, the second day of the Mahotsav.

Narula became popular after lending her voice to the title song of Bollywood movie Pyar to Hona Hi Tha. Sapna’s claim to fame is Chhaiya Chhaiya of Dil Se.

It is believed that Rajgir was one of the most favourite destinations of Lord Buddha. It was the ancient capital city of Magadh kings until 5th century BC when Ajatshatru shifted the capital to Patliputra.

The Vishwa Shanti Stupa and Gridhakuta Hill are two major tourist attractions of Rajgir. The Vishwa Shanti Stupa is the tallest peace pagoda in the world. It houses four statues of Lord Buddha on four corners of the stupa. Lord Buddha, it is believed, frequented the Gridhakuta Hill.

The hot water springs, Venuvan, Maniyar Math, the jail of Bimbisara and Jarasandh ka Akhara are some of the other major tourist attractions of Rajgir.