Bundeli Festival, a people's utsav

With the onset of the spring season, the essence of Bundeli culture starts oozing from the houses and cultural values, traditions and other languages gets a refuge in an annual Celebration. Bundeli Utsav has became a very important part of Basari, a small village in Chhatarpur district, which is making the village come alive for the last two decades . Basari is situated 17 km from the district hq.The sole purpose of this event is to preserve the raw folk Bundeli culture and pass it down to the next generation so that they will represent their roots with a sense of pride and responsibility. 

It is mostly held in mid-February. Last year in February, 24th Bundeli festival was organized before the covid-19 situation worsened in india. A weeklong festival starting from Basant Panchami every year. Preparaions are in full swing to organise the Utsav this year in the month of February. A stadium has been built in this small village just because of Bundeli festival which can entertain around 50,000 people. The celebration is filled with many events that takes every spectator down their memory lane as they reminisce their childhood with the kids Playing "Gilli-Danda" a fun sport played with a wooden stick and disk. Other than that their are different sports competition held such as women's wrestling competition, kabaddi, volleyball, bull race competition, horse dance, towing kasi, Donda (Noka) race competition and Chaupar, a game which has its own history but is neglected with the time 

There is a Bundeli cuisine competition where participants make local favourites.  People can also see Enchanting paintings of Bundelkhand showcased during the event. In the stage programs, there is a music concert, which is also judged and is filled with bundeli folk songs. The rhyme and rhythm of Rayee and Phag , add a different colour to the event. The opportunity to see, hear and understand these presentations is unique in itself. 

An annual magazine called "Bundeli Vasant Patrika" Is released to script the cultural heritage of Bundelkhand.Those who saved and enriched the heritage of Bundelkhand like many Chroniclers,Historians, Artists and Journalists are also honored. Screening of Films which are made on Bundeli backdrop are also shown. Last year atleast fourteen films were showcased.the event is organized only with the financial support of the people and has successfully held 21 consecutive times.

 Former MLA Shankar Pratap Singh Bundela, says that in this age, we are forgetting our dialect, language, culture, this voice and culture of Bundelkhand is left as it Had started  to fade with the inclinement of Western culture to the point where people are feeling ashamed to speak Bundeli language, which is very sad. Prominent litterateurs of Chhatarpur, Surendra Sharma Shirish, Prof. Bahadur Singh Parmar, Dr. Hari Singh Ghosh, K.K.  and  L. Patel, are involved in this campaign to save the folk culture and  social service of Bundelkhand.  

Bundeli-utsav in the region of Bundelkhand is now becoming limited and at fading stage.The initial five years went well with the support of the government and the people.This was the period when a strong foundation for this campaign to save cultural heritage was formed. With the change in politics, the mood of the people also changed.  The government put a stop to cooperate financially. Many people interested in politics turned their back.  Although there is no written criteria of folk culture, but the roots of traditions are so deep  that eras passed in changing it. The lifestyle of modernism and the westernization of civilization alienate people from their traditions. But locals are still tying hard to save the region's rich cultural heritage.