New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS): The two-day theatre festival "Bhilwara Natya Puraskar", which begins Saturday, aims to promote Indian theatre in the capital by staging two historical plays.

The organisers of the fourth edition of the festival have chosen two plays - "Samrat Ashoka" and "The Crowning of Dara" to recreate the magical past and bring to life two legends of history.

Daya Prakash Sinha's "Samrat Ashoka" is based on ancient Buddhist writings and looks at the king's life in totality, encompassing both the dark and bright aspects of his life.

Whereas director Tripurari Sharma's "The Crowning of Dara" relives the intense period of conflict in Mughal India during the mid-17th century. The struggle for succession among the sons of emperor Shah Jahan is used as a setting, which leads to the emergence of Dara Shikoh, Shah Jahan's eldest son and a remarkable scholar and liberal thinker of medieval India.

The festival is organised by the business conglomerate, LNJ Bhilwara Group.

"We choose finalists on the basis of four criteria - direction, script, music and message. Both these plays are different from each other and have different messages and will tell a bit about our history," said L.N. Jhunjhunwala, one of the jury members.

The festival will end Sunday with Sharma's play.