BHUBANESWAR: Thousands of people from different districts of the state congregated at Lower PMG here on Wednesday to hail god through Sankirtan (musical performances) seeking peace and brotherhood in the society.Normally people gather at Lower PMG to stage protest dharna and demonstration seeking fulfillment of their demands related to their livelihood and other disputes. But these people had no complaints against anybody. They were marching in the city for peace and harmony in the world.Sankirtan or Kirtan in short, a popular form of performance art to pay obeisance to the god, was developed in fifteenth century by Chaitanya from West Bengal. The troupe performs this spiritual act is called as Sankirtan Mandali.In every troupe, there will be singers, one or two persons to play Mridanga (a percussion instrument of ancient origin) and cymbal players. Chaitanya’s this Bhakti movement had attracted people from all castes. Later Sankirtan Mandalis were created in most of the villages of the state.“Even today also several villages have kept the tradition alive by performing Sankirtan every day and organizing Kirtans in other villages to spread the name of god. Though the number of troupes is decreasing day by day, still around 20,000 troupes are functioning in the state,” said Dibakar Patra, president of Shree Shree Jagannath Kala Sanskruti Sankirtan Seba Bikas Parishad, an umbrella organization of Sankirtan Mandalis.Patra said the new generation is not interested either to learn the art of playing Mridanga or singing the Kirtan songs. “It is fact that children go out for study or job. Only the old or middle-aged people perform this kirtans in the villages. We want to revive the tradition and create a movement in the state to attract the youths towards this tradition,” he added.Bipin Bihari Das, coordinator of the Parishad, said they are concerned about the future of the tradition. “We want the state government help them in preserving the ancient art. At least the government can donate instruments and pensions to the artists to carry it forward,” he added.Manoranjan Panigrahy, secretary of culture department, said the state government has included Sankirtan as folk art and provided pension to some of its artists. “Now 4,000 artists of different folk arts are getting pension of Rs 1200 per month. Name of another 1,000 artists has been finalized. As chief minister Naveen Patnaik has decided to provide pension 50,000 artists, more Sankirtan artists will get monetary help,” he added. He said the state government is working on preserving the old art forms like Sankirtan.

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