Mystic Kalinga, a two-day international festival of poetry and performances, was held here on Friday and Saturday in the presence of several noted poets from around the world.

Renowned Indian English poet Keki N Daruwala and famous Hindi poet as well as cultural critic Ashok Vajpayee graced the inaugural session and discussed various aspects of Indian culture from a critical point of view. Both the poets rued that there must be clear distinction between myth and reality.

In a specially-dedicated session moderated by poet Arundhati Subramaniam, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, chief guest and star attraction of the event, discussed Indian mysticism and decoded hidden Indian philosophical messages of life through short tales and stories in the context of his recently launched book Adiyogi: The Source of Yoga .

During the discussion, Sadhguru answered different questions from the audience about meditation and yoga being alternate to curing mental illness, saying it has the potential to heal mental illness of certain degrees with constant practice.

The first day of the 2nd edition of Mystic Kalinga showcased various genres of Indian poetry as three poetry recital sessions-multilingual, Odia and Bhakti poetry-were held after the inaugural session. Noted poets such as Navneeta Devsen, Sitakanta Mohapatra, Arundhati Subramanian, Saroj Bal read their poems in front of an amused audience.

Three poets and authors, Arundhati Subramaniam, Nabneeta Devsen and Soubhagya Kumar Mishra were conferred with Mystic Kalinga literary Awards 2017.

In the end an Urdu Mushaira session was held where maestros such as Tarannum Riyaz and Shakeel Azmi participated.