The word heritage instantly brings to mind images of tangible elements such as ancient forts, monuments or national parks. The concept of intangible heritage is relatively new to Andhra Pradesh.
The proposed week-long National Intangible Heritage Festival at Amaravathi Heritage Centre and Museum in Amaravathi Heritage Town in Guntur district from November 14 to 19 will throw light on intangible cultural heritage, that includes key aspects such as oral traditions and expressions, including language, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe and traditional craftsmanship.
“We are keen on bringing the tangible sites and objects together with the intangible and celebrate the layers of history and heritage of Amaravathi. The UNESCO recognises traditional festivals under the 2003 Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Heritage. The residents of Amaravathi here celebrate Sankranti to Deepawali, Christmas to Easter, Ramadan, Id-ul Fitr to Bouddha Pournami and these festivities are intangible heritage,” says Amareswar Galla, Curator, Amaravathi Heritage Town. He is also, along with the Director General of the Delhi-based National Museums of Natural History, co-Director of the national festival.
Karthikeya V. Sarabhai, Director, Center for Environment Education, a Centre of Excellence of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, will be the keynote speaker.
The aim of the festival is to popularise the concept of intangible heritage, both cultural and natural, to network with stakeholders (including museums) and to develop capacity-building training programmes on intangible heritage.
Lepakshi festival
On the sidelines, a Lepakshi festival (from November 12 to 22) will unfold not just exhibiting but also demonstrating the rich crafts of Andhra Pradesh.
Dotting the venue, artisans from Buditi village in Srikakulam district will showcase their brass plant pots and urlis, musical veena, ornamental veena made with jack wood from Bobbili and Adivasi paintings from Palakonda in Vizianagaram and wooden and lacquer wood items and palm leaf products from Etikoppaka village and Payakaraopet in Visakhapatnam.
Craftsmen from Gollapalem, Madhava Patnam, Ramachandrapuram and Uppada in East Godavari district will exhibit Kalamkari block prints, leather puppets, lace items and artistic silk sarees while their counterparts in Narsapur, Palakollu and Eluru in West Godavari district will present lace products and hand-woven carpets.
Kalamkari prints from Pedana and the world famous Kondapalli toys from Kondapalli in Krishna district, stone-carved items and handloom garments from Durgi, Narsaraopet and Mangalagiri in Guntur district, handloom saris and dress material from Chirala in Prakasam district, wooden cutlery items, artistic zari-bordered saris and pattu silk saris from Udayagiri, Venkatagiri and Paturu in Nellore district and many other items from parts of Chittoor, Anantapur, Kurnool and Kadapa districts will be seen at the expo.
