Documenting
Efforts to Conserve India’s Living Tradition
Intangible
Cultural Heritage (ICH) includes traditions or living expressions inherited
from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants. These may be oral
traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festivals, knowledge
and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to
produce traditional crafts all of which is collectively termed as ICH.
The
Ministry of Culture has initiated an effort to develop innovative and
appropriate databases for identification and recording of ICH, including in
digital forms and represented on the internet. The Ministry has set up a
Committee on Diverse and Living Traditions of India. CEE was given the
responsibility to develop a first level documentation of resource people,
institutions, communities, practices, archival material, and existing
inventories relating to the conservation of India’s ICH.
Prof.
GN Devy, Shri Ashoke Chatterjee and Shri Kartikeya Sarabhai guided the
documentation effort, done through the Parampara Project. The project is an
attempt to provide a platform to showcase the efforts towards conservation of
India’s ICH. It is also a step towards exploring ICH in the context of its
linkage with environmental sustainability. CEE has developed and tested a
robust system of collecting information on this huge and complex subject area.
A
prototype ‘Parampara Catalogue’ has been developed which demonstrates the
manner in which documentation can be done and presented. The prototype
catalogue has been produced with a view to invite comments and guidelines which
can help the next phase of creating the first national Parampara Catalogue.
The
Prarampara Project is supported by an active website which is an online
mechanism to help collate information on institutions, experts, government
sponsored schemes, research projects, status reports, audio/video, web
materials and specific conservation programmes relating to India’s ICH.
For more information contact:
paramparaproject@ceeindia.org
“Patta” literally means “cloth” and “Chitra”
means “picture” in Sanskrit. The Pattachitra painting tradition is closely
linked with the worship of Lord Jagannath in Odisha. The original Pattachitra
is done on matha silk canvas with vegetable dyes. These paintings were
traditionally done by males only. However, in recent times, some women artists
have also taken up this art form.
The
present generation of patta chitra artists paint on the walls of big temples
and important public places. Bhubaneswar is unique in its appearance with such
Pattachitra paintings on all important public places, walls, and flyovers. The
photo above, taken in the Patia area of the city, shows scrap cars painted with
patta chitra depicting stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata.
You Can Contribute!
Do log on to the website www.paramparaproject.org
and contribute relevant materials about any of India’s living tradition that
you think should find mention on the portal. Contributions are invited in the
forms of write-ups, audio/video material/ etc. about the different kind of living
traditions (ICH) that are found in India, and are being/ need to be conserved.
Information relating to those cultural traditions that strongly reflect
environmental sustainability and through which livelihoods can be enhanced, is
especially welcome.
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