Seraikela Palace was all set to launch Chaitra Parva, the annual festival organised by the royal family, on Monday with a kalash rally scheduled at midnight and an exhibition of old photographs.

Through the evening, devotees from across the district were getting ready to march to river Kharkai with kalash, symbolising Ardhanareshwar, and perform various rituals after which they would go to the Seraikela Palace about 1.5km away.

The photography exhibition showcased over 200 prints about the royal family's association with chhau. Among those on display were one of the family patriarch Suvendra Narayan Singhdeo and others performing before Mahatma Gandhi in 1937 in Calcutta.

Another showed a chhau troupe performing in Santiniketan with Rabindranath Tagore in the audience in 1941.

The formal inauguration of the four-day festival is scheduled to take place at Seraikela palace on Tuesday.

Dedicated to Lord Shiva, the four-day festival begins on the 125th birth anniversary of Rani Padmini Kumari Devi. Dancers of Srikalapith - the cultural wing of the royal family formed in 1941 - would be performing Seraikela Chhau in the palace courtyard as part of the daily rituals.

"Rani Padmini, who is my great grandmother, was a patron of chhau. She had the habit of donating her attire and jewellery to dancers, giving performances a royal touch. We organise a chhau competition in her memory and that of Rajkumar Sudhendra Narayan Singhdeo who was the first Padma Shree recipient for this folk dance form," said Pratap Aditya Singhdeo, a member of the royal family and organiser of the Chaita Parva.

Seraikela Chhau has evolved from pharikhanda (swordplay), a particular form of martial arts. It's is distinctly different.

A mask covers the faces of dancers promting them to express bhava (mood) and rasa (emotions) through body movements.

The dance themes were always ware inspired by mythology.