Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
Mahagami Gurukul will host the 18th edition of the Śārńgadēva samaroh from 16 to 19 January 2026 at its MGM campus, focusing on the relevance of classical music and dance texts in contemporary performing arts. The festival is centred on the 13th-century treatise sangita-ratnakara by Sarngadeva, written during the Yadava period when Devagiri (present-day Daulatabad) was the capital.
International participation
Artists, scholars and researchers from Brazil, South Africa, Australia and India will take part in the four-day event. Around 50 scholars and young researchers will present research papers during afternoon sessions, engaging with musicology, dance traditions and movement studies.
Four-segment structure
The programme is organised into four segments: Sarngadeva Prasanga (seminars), Sarngadeva Samaroh (music and dance performances), Sarngadeva Pravaha (research presentations and workshops) and Sarngadeva Spandan (outreach and exhibitions). Morning sessions will include discussions on natyashastra, varkari musical traditions, bharatanatyam structure, chhau dance and dance-related musculoskeletal studies.
Performances and exhibitions
Evening concerts will feature devotional music, bharatanatyam, odissi, kathak and chhau. Senior artistes including Padmashree Ashwini Bhide, Padmashree Narthaki Nataraj and Guru Shashadhar Acharya will perform. A ragamala painting exhibition curated by the centre for design studies, Indore, will be open throughout the festival. Tickets are available on online platforms such as BookMyShow.
International experts
Indian dance history in western textual sources – Donovan Roebert (South Africa)
Dance movement and musculoskeletal injuries – Dr Claire Hiller (University of Sydney)
Learning and dissemination of Indian dance in the west – Sonia Galvao (Brazil)