At one of the ancient world's most expansive urban settlements, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Monday, 19 October 2026, inaugurated the Rakhigarhi Mahotsav — a cultural festival anchored at the Rakhigarhi archaeological site in Hansi, Hisar district, celebrating the legacy of the Saraswati-Sindhu civilisation.

A 5,000-year-old city gets its festival moment

Rakhigarhi is no ordinary heritage site. Spread across multiple mounds in Haryana, it ranks among the largest known settlements of the Harappan civilisation — larger, by some measures, than the more celebrated sites of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. The Archaeological Survey of India has excavated the site since the 1960s, progressively revealing planned streets, drainage systems, and artefacts that place Rakhigarhi at the very heart of Bronze Age urban life on the Indian subcontinent.

Chief Minister Saini announced the inauguration live on social media, describing the event as the launch of the Rakhigarhi Mahotsav at a 'Saraswati-Sindhu civilisation archaeological site in Haryana (Hansi).' The festival brings public programming — cultural performances, heritage walks, and educational exhibits — directly to the dig site, turning an excavation landscape into a living civic celebration.

Saraswati river narrative and the state's heritage push

The deliberate pairing of the Saraswati alongside the Sindhu (Indus) in the festival's branding is consistent with Haryana government efforts to frame the state as the geographic heartland of one of history's earliest civilisations. Rakhigarhi sits in the zone traditionally associated with the now-dry Saraswati river channel — a geography that has made the site central to debates among archaeologists and historians about the civilisation's extent and identity.

State governments in Haryana have periodically organised public-facing events at Indus Valley heritage locations to drive cultural tourism and local pride. The Rakhigarhi Mahotsav fits that arc — but its live-streamed inauguration by the Chief Minister signals a heightened push to give the site national visibility.

What the mahotsav means for Rakhigarhi's future

For heritage tourists, archaeologists, and residents of the Hisar region, the festival raises expectations of sustained investment in site infrastructure. A dedicated museum at Rakhigarhi has long been discussed as a way to contextualise finds for general visitors — subsequent state announcements on that front will indicate whether the mahotsav marks a one-time celebration or the opening chapter of a longer development plan.

In the meantime, a civilisation that quietly shaped the ancient world has, for one festival season, a spotlight it has rarely commanded.