Close on the heels of Durga Puja being accorded the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage tag, Karnataka is set to initiate the process to secure a similar status for Mysuru Dasara.
The Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage is set to take the initiative and will study the presentation and documentation related to Durga Puja and initiate the measures, said Poornima, Commissioner of the Department.
“This is on top of our mind and we will follow the due protocols and initiatives required to document Dasara and submit it to the Centre’’, she added.
Though an effort was made in the past he initiative did not go beyond making a cursory report nor was it submitted to the Centre.
The Mysuru chapter of INTACH had also pressed for preparing the ground work and was one of the resolutions passed in the District Heritage Committee meeting before the pandemic brought all efforts to a halt.
N.S.Rangaraju, convenor of INTACH, Mysuru, said that Dasara as it is celebrated in Mysuru is rooted in history and was inherited by the Wadiyars of Mysuru from the rulers of Vijayanagar empire.
The festival was documented by the medieval writers including Domingo Paes and Ferrnao Nuniz of Portugal who visited the Vijayanagar kingdom during the 16th century. Hence not only does Mysuru Dasara has a historical pedigree but it is also a tradition whose origins extend to earlier days and is celebrated as Nada Habba, said Prof.Rangaraju.
Experts aver that Dasara or Navaratri was part and parcel of the culture and tradition of Karnataka and securing the intangible cultural heritage tag for Mysuru Dasara could open up opportunities for promoting the event on a global scale to give a boost to tourism.
“Mysuru Dasara meets all the criteria to secure the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage tag and it is a living cultural heritage practice of the State with its own history dating to over 500 years’’, said Prof.Rangaraju.
Though the description of the intangible cultural heritage is elaborate, UNESCO describes it as something which is “transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity’’.
Apart from Durga Puja celebrations, tradition of Vedic chanting, Kumbha Mela, chanting of Buddhist hymns in the Ladakh region, Navrouz, Kerala’s Sanskrit theatre Kutiyattam, Ramleela, the traditional performance of Ramayana, and Sankirtana, ritual singing, drumming and dancing of Manipur are among the traditions of India that have been accorded the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage tag.
