A familiarization program for South Indian media groups to promote ‘The Murugan Trail’ in Sri Lanka,  has been organized by Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission in Chennai in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, from 03 to 11 August 2022.

The objective of this program is to promote the Katharagama Esala Festival, which is held during this month, to tourists from South India. Along with this, other cultural events held during this time such as the Esala Perahera in Kandy and the Nallur Festival in Jaffna will also be given publicity.

The Kataragama Esala Festival is held annually in July/ August at the Kataragama Ancient Temple to pay homage to Lord Murugan.  The Kataragama Esala Perehera (Procession) takes place during the nights of the festive season with traditional dancers, drummers, fire walkers, elephants, and other  rituals. It is known as one of the most elegant and spectacular historical-cultural pageants in Sri Lanka.

For the first time, six renowned media houses in south India, both print and electronic, including ‘The Hindu’, ‘Behindwoods’, ‘News 07 Tamil’, ‘Vikatan’, ‘News 18’, ‘TV 09’ and ‘Madhura Digital Media’ departed to Sri Lanka on 03 August for a 09 days visit. The media delegation will cover historically and culturally important destinations and events around the country especially Colombo, Jaffna, Anuradhapura, Dambulla, Kandy and Katharagama. The Kataharagama Esala festival will be broadcasted live by a few of these media houses.