Beating the Retreat ceremony at Vijay Chowk marked by traditional grandeur

Beating the Retreat ceremony, which marks the culmination of four-day-long Republic Day celebrations, began here amidst traditional grandeur at Vijay Chowk.

Personnel of bands of three wings of armed forces displayed synchronised march to the tunes played.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief of Defence General Bipin Rawat and three service chiefs and several other dignitaries are attending the ceremony.

'Beating the Retreat' traces its origins to the early 1950s when Major Roberts of the Indian Army indigenously developed the unique ceremony of display by the massed bands.

'Beating the Retreat' marks a centuries-old military tradition, when the troops ceased fighting, sheathed their arms and withdrew from the battlefield and returned to the camps at sunset at the sounding of the Retreat.

Colours and Standards are cased and flags lowered. The ceremony creates nostalgia of the times gone by.