The Story
OrganizerThe Mahindra Kabira Festival is an annual celebration of the life, work and philosophy of Kabir — the 15th-century mystic-poet, weaver and saint who is believed to have lived in Varanasi and whose verses cut across caste, creed and religious division to seek the divine in everyday experience. Instituted by the Mahindra Group and produced by Teamwork Arts, the festival began around 2017 and reached its ninth edition in December 2025, establishing itself as India's foremost festival devoted to Kabir.
Its defining feature is its setting on the ghats of the Ganga in Varanasi, principally at Guleria Kothi and Shivala Ghat. The festival is structured around the rhythm of the holy city: it opens with a Ganga aarti, presents morning music programmes at sunrise on the ghats and evening concerts on the riverbank or boats under the stars, and weaves in curated heritage walks through Varanasi's labyrinthine lanes, temple visits, talks and discourses on Kabir's thought, and the local cuisine and culinary traditions of Banaras. Both morning and evening music sessions are open to the public, while delegates gain access to the curated walks and experiences.
Musically, the festival draws on the rich traditions associated with Varanasi and with Kabir's syncretic spirit — the Banaras gharana, folk, Sufi, thumri, dadra, qawwali and khayal styles, alongside contemporary interpretations. Over its editions it has programmed artists such as Kailash Kher, Shubha Mudgal, Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty, Malini Awasthi, Neeraj Arya's Kabir Café, Indian Ocean, the Raghu Dixit Project, Prahlad Singh Tipaniya, Mooralala Marwada and the genre-blending Aditya Prakash Ensemble and Agam. The festival has also built a strong sustainability programme, diverting the great majority of its waste from landfill and adopting reusable and compostable practices. In honouring Kabir on the banks of the river in the city he called home, Mahindra Kabira offers a rare, immersive encounter with India's Bhakti heritage in its most resonant setting.
Mahindra Kabira's cultural significance lies in its role as India's premier festival dedicated to Kabir and the Bhakti and mystic-poetry tradition, and in its immersive celebration of that heritage in Varanasi, the city most associated with the poet. It keeps Kabir's radical, inclusive philosophy — transcending caste and sectarian division — alive for contemporary audiences through music, poetry and discourse.
The festival is also a significant platform for the musical traditions of Varanasi and the wider devotional spectrum — the Banaras gharana, folk, Sufi and classical forms — and for artists who carry these traditions forward. By staging this culture in situ on the ghats of the Ganga, it links living performance to sacred place and to one of India's deepest spiritual and cultural landscapes, making it a distinctive and resonant contribution to the country's festival ecosystem.
Mahindra Kabira matters as the leading celebration of Kabir's enduring, inclusive philosophy at a time when his message of unity and introspection across religious and social divides remains profoundly relevant. It sustains and platforms the Bhakti, folk and Banaras-gharana traditions, offers audiences a uniquely immersive cultural experience on the ghats of Varanasi, and models thoughtful, sustainable, place-rooted festival-making.
Mahindra Kabira has created India's foremost platform for Kabir's poetry and philosophy; sustained and showcased the Banaras gharana, Bhakti, folk and Sufi musical traditions; linked living performance to the sacred landscape of Varanasi and the Ganga; and modelled sustainable, immersive cultural festival-making.
