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The Kalidasa Festival, held at Ramtek, where Kalidasa is believed to have written the Meghaduta, is organised in which district of Maharashtra?
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Answer: Option B — Nagpur
Detailed Solution
The Kalidasa Festival (Kalidas Mahotsav) is a cultural festival organised every year at Ramtek, a historic town in the Nagpur district of Maharashtra, about 50 km from the city of Nagpur. It is organised by the Nagpur district administration and the Maharashtra government, usually in November, and also includes events held in Nagpur city.
The festival is held at Ramtek because, according to tradition, the great Sanskrit poet Kalidasa wrote his famous lyrical poem "Meghaduta" (The Cloud Messenger) there. In the Meghaduta, a yaksha (a celestial being), exiled by his master Kubera for neglecting his duties, lives in exile on a hill called Ramagiri. Missing his wife, who is far away in the city of Alaka in the Himalayas, he asks a passing cloud to carry a message of love to her, and he describes the beautiful landscapes the cloud will pass over on its way. Ramagiri is traditionally identified with the hill at Ramtek. The town also has an ancient temple of Lord Rama, who is believed to have stayed there during his exile, which gave the town its name.
The Kalidasa Festival celebrates the works of Kalidasa and India's classical arts. It features performances of classical music and dance by leading artists, plays based on Kalidasa's works, and seminars. The Kavikulaguru Kalidas Sanskrit University, a university dedicated to Sanskrit, is located at Ramtek.
Kalidasa, who probably lived in the 4th-5th centuries CE, is regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist of classical Sanskrit literature. His works include "Abhijnanashakuntalam", "Raghuvamsha", "Kumarasambhava" and "Meghaduta". Ujjain, in Madhya Pradesh, also holds a famous festival in his honour, the Akhil Bharatiya Kalidas Samaroh, every year at the Kalidas Academy.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Pune is known for the Sawai Gandharva music festival.
- ✗Nashik is known for the Sula Fest and the Kumbh Mela.
- ✗Aurangabad hosts the Ellora-Ajanta Festival.
Quick tip
Remember: The Kalidasa Festival = Ramtek (Nagpur district), the Meghaduta and Ramagiri. Ujjain hosts the Akhil Bharatiya Kalidas Samaroh.
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Festivals & Fairs of India — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Festivals & Fairs of India, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the religious, harvest, tribal and cultural festivals of India, the fairs (melas) held across the country, and the states, communities and seasons linked to them. It also includes festivals listed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, such as Kumbh Mela and Durga Puja in Kolkata. Most questions ask which state celebrates a festival, which tribe it belongs to, or what event it marks. Harvest festivals are especially common: Pongal (Tamil Nadu), Onam (Kerala), Bihu (Assam), Lohri and Baisakhi (Punjab) and Nuakhai (Odisha). Fairs such as the Pushkar camel fair (Rajasthan) and the Sonepur cattle fair (Bihar) are also frequently tested. Revise festivals state by state. Practise the festivals and fairs questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.