Ganga: A Love Beyond Reason (2024) – Audio-Visual Documentation
Ganga Film (Poster)
This year (2024), the ICH Division embarked on a significant project, producing a one-hour documentary film titled ‘Ganga: A Love Beyond Reason’, which delves into the rich cultural heritage of key, yet lesser-known intangible cultural heritage aspects of districts spanning Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal.
The film captures and documents these unique domains of ICH, showcasing the special cultural treasures and traditions along the Ganga River. These include indigenous knowledge systems, folklore, performing arts, oral history, fairs, festivals, crafts, and more. The documentary features:
● Archaeological Sites and Historicity: Exploration of ancient sites and their historical context; Historians/Archaeologists perspectives ● Stakeholders/Cultural practitioners’ perspectives ● Pothi System: Traditional genealogy registers of Haridwar and Garhmukteshwar ● Block Printing: Techniques of the Sadh community ● Tabla Gharana of Farrukhabad: A distinguished school of tabla music ● Kajri of Mirzapur: Traditional folk music ● Carpet and Brassware industry of Mirzapur ● Varanasi Aarti: The lesser-known aspects of the iconic worship ritual at the Ghats of Varanasi ● Zari and Zardozi of Chandauli: Detailed embroidery styles ● Manjusha Art: A traditional art form ● Bhagalpuri weaving and sarees ● Foodways: Culinary traditions along the Ganga River, in places like Kannauj, Varanasi, and Farukkhabad, among others, as well as the sweets of Kolkata ● Boatmaking: Traditional boat craftsmanship
‘Ganga: A Love Beyond Reason’ not only highlights these cultural practices but also emphasizes their significance and the urgent need for their documentation and preservation. On the occasion of Ganga Dusshera, the film was screened in the multipurpose hall of INTACH, Delhi, and received much appreciation from the viewers present. The film has been uploaded on the following INTACH YouTube channel for a broader reach.
Database on the Status of Intangible Cultural Heritage Research and Documentation in India
A three year long (2015-18) pan India project on identifying and cataloguing the Intangible Cultural Heritage assets of India available in printed form was undertaken by the ICH Division, INTACH, Delhi. The project was led by Harish Benjwal, Senior Research Associate (SRA), ICH Division, under the supervision of Principal Director, ICH Division. The tangible outcome of the project was creation of a web portal (which can be accessed by following the provided link at bottom)
The following is the project brief about the project:
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) is India’s largest non-profit membership organization dedicated to conservation and preservation of India’s natural, tangible and intangible heritage.
The Intangible Cultural Heritage Division of INTACH has worked on various aspects of the subject, including research and documentation, seminars, workshops, and promoting intangible heritage through a series of festivals and awareness creation events. We are now undertaking a project of creating a database on the Status of Intangible Cultural Heritage Research and Documentation in India. It will be a listing of published or unpublished works done in the field of INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE, and held, by individuals, Government Organisations, Government aided autonomous bodies, Non-government organisations, libraries and academic institutions.
Project Details:
Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), as spelt out in the UNESCO Convention of 2003, incorporates the knowledge, skills and practices that communities or individuals recognize as part of their unique identity. It promotes cultural diversities and human creativity. This heritage, passed down orally from generation to generation, is constantly evolving and being recreated in response to the environment
It is manifested in the domains of:
Oral traditions and expressions including language
Performing arts
Social practices and rituals
Traditional knowledge
Craftsmanship
A large volume of India’s ICH wealth, documented over the last six decades, is stored in printed form with various governmental and non-governmental institutions and academic institutions and individuals. The contents of these works enshrine the creativity and knowledge of some of India’s greatest artistic talents. This is an invaluable national heritage that needs to be preserved for all time and also made accessible to the citizens of the country.
Scope of the Project:
Identifying and cataloguing the ICH of India available in printed form in institutions across the country through a process of briefly describing them and making the list accessible to the people.
Instituting state-of-art digital database and storage systems through the aegis of INTACH and partner institutions to preserve these resources as a whole, in some cases, or an annotated listing in others.
In the long term, setting up a dedicated website and a virtual network of these repositories and offering online hyperlinked access to their resources, programming schedules etc.
Standardization and periodic upgradation of the storehouse of such resources. Broadly speaking, the genres of print materials to be covered will include oral traditions, traditional crafts and textiles, dance, music and theatrical practices, cultural practices and traditional knowledge. The exhaustive inventory will archive printed works on the following subjects: folklore, language , mythology, rituals, medicine, health practices, wisdom keepers /knowledge holders, human treasures, educational traditions, nature, enviroment ,oral traditions, music ,dance, musical instruments, paintings, murals, rock/cave art, body painting, house decoration, vernacular architecture, art, building patterns, folk art & skills, production, food ,drink, costume, jewellery, hair styles utensils, forms of greeting, birth rituals, hospitality, games, sport, pottery, life cycle, rituals, disposal of the dead, magic, witch-craft, occult practices, shamanism, marriage, sexual practices, cosmology, philosophy, festivals, fairs, worship, iconography etc.
Capacity building in conservation, cataloguing, digitization and retrieval of ICH related print materials.
Instituting outreach and awareness programmes.
The objectives of the project:
To bring it into public domain;
To make it interactive for scholars;
To create such an archive makes possible virtually instant retrieval of data.
Most importantly, to prevent needless duplication of research and documentation, thus saving time and resources
Partners for the Project:
Local and Regional Government agencies which collect cultural data
Academics, experts, researchers in social and cultural studies at universities
Communities, associations, social institutions, Libraries, informal organizations and individuals who/ which collect cultural data
INTACH convenors across the country
Beneficiaries of the Project
The Government
To have regularly updated data on oral or intangible cultural elements in different communities and regions.
To facilitate planning and policy-making for safeguarding ICH.
To facilitate preparation of regional and local museums and archives.
To raise the standard of living of communities in a sustainable manner
Academics
As a living subject and source of social science, science, and ethnographical research
For developing curricula and teaching materials for schools and universities.
Entrepreneurs
To develop cultural elements as creative products which are competitive globally.
To creative product businesses and market such programmes.
General Public
To know the diversity of living culture in our country.
