Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas convention opens today
India has brought 80 artefacts from 17 foreign countries whose artistic expressions are inspired by Hindu epic ‘Ramayana’ to showcase the country’s “rich tapestry” to the Indian diaspora visiting the country for 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) convention in Bhubaneswar.
The convention, conducted by Ministry of External Affairs, opens tomorrow with Odisha being the partner state.
An exhibition named ‘Vishwaroop Ram: The Universal Legacy of Ramayana’ seeks to showcase India’s timeless epic Ramayana to the Indian diaspora. It will show ‘Ramayana connect’ of 22 countries in the world including Thailand, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, China, Nepal, Tibet, Russia, Mexico, Guyana, New Zealand, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritius, Mongolia and Laos.
The exhibition will have 146 exhibits, including 80 foreign artefacts like paintings, puppets and masks.
The foreign exhibits include 16 Ramayana masks, 4 postcards, a poster and a painting catalogue from Thailand; Ravanhattha—a musical instrument played by Ravana from Sri Lanka; a life-size pinata of Ravana from Mexico; Ramayana puppets and paintings from Indonesia; 19 postal stamps from Nepal; Canada and New Zealand; idols of Lord Rama and Hanuman from Fiji; Ramayana texts in Persian from Iran; in Arabic script from Kuwait; in Russian from Russia; in Chinese from China, and in Mongolian from Mongolia.
Other foreign exhibits include masks and puppets from Cambodia, shadow puppets from Singapore, Ravana headgear from Trinidad and Tobago, books and shadow puppets from Malaysia.
Last year in October, PM Modi also signed a pact aimed at the preservation of the Lao Ramayana, known in Laos as Phalak Phalam or Phra Lak Phra Ram.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Mansukh Mandaviya and Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi will be present at the 18th PBD convention opening tomorrow.
A formal inauguration of PBD will be done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 9, while the ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Samman’ awards will be given and valedictory address will be delivered by President Droupadi Murmu on January 10.
On the occasion, a special project on digitisation of diaspora documents carried out by Indian Embassy in Oman will also be inaugurated by Modi.
