Celebrated with gusto and pomp to mark the advent of spring, the Mewar Festival is one of the most important events in the cultural calendar of Udaipur in Rajasthan. Preparations for this three-day celebration begins months in advance and on days leading up to the day, tourists, performing artistes from various parts of the state, and the country,
The Mewar Festival coincides with another equally important and vibrant local festival - the Gangaur festival, which begins from the day after Holi. The celebrations kick start with the gathering of the ashes of the Holi bonfire in which seeds of barley are buried and watered regularly till they begin to germinate. Women fast during this festival and pray for the well being of their husbands.
On the day of the festival, women dress in traditional garments and deck up idols of Isar (Lord Shiva) and Gangaur (Goddess Parvati) and carry them on their heads to Lake Pichola. The procession starts from the clock tower and after reaching the lake, the idols are transferred to boats for immersion.
This is followed by an array of cultural events that displays the rich and vibrant heritage of the state. Such native folk dance forms as kalbeliya and ghoomar are performed along with Rajasthani folk songs.
Mewar or Mewad is a region in the south-central part of Rajasthan state of India. It includes the present-day districts of Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Pirawa Tehsil of Jhalawar District of Rajasthan, Neemuch and Mandsaur of Madhya Pradesh and some parts of Gujarat.
The Mewar region lies between the Aravali Range to the northwest, Ajmer to the north, Gujarat and the Vagad region of Rajasthan to the south, the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh state to the south and the Hadoti region of Rajasthan to the east.
The northern and eastern portions of Mewar are made up of an elevated plateau while the western and southern portions were rocky and hilly with dense forests. The watershed divide between drainage of the Bay of Bengal and drainage of the Gulf of Khambhat runs almost through the centre of Mewar. The northern and eastern part of Mewar is a gently sloping plain, drained by the Bedach and Banas River and its tributaries, which empty northwest into the Chambal River, a tributary of the Yamuna River. The southern and western part of the region is hilly, and marks the divide between the Banas and its tributaries and the headwaters of the Sabarmati and Mahi rivers and their tributaries, which drain south into the Gulf of Khambhat through Gujarat state. The Aravalli Range, which forms the northwestern boundary of the region, is composed mostly of sedimentary rocks, like marble and Kota Stone, which has traditionally been an important construction material.