Our heritage is our pride.
Let’s preserve its future.
With the world losing its tangible and intangible cultural heritage faster than it can be documented, InterGlobe Foundation wanted to bring together a cross-section of the public in documenting and researching the cultural heritage of India. With this objective in mind, the foundation launched the "InterGlobe HERITAGE Fellowships" in 2022. The aim was to encourage a community of researchers, journalists, architects, and other individuals who could bring to light the undocumented aspects of Indian heritage and culture and help increase awareness about them at the local, national, and international level and help bring forth innovative ideas for the restoration of heritage landmarks.
The objective of extending fellowships was to encourage and motivate in-depth research on built and cultural heritage in specific towns and regional geographies of India, draw from the research to build action plans for intervention in select locations, explore multi-stakeholder partnerships for better heritage conservation, and instill a sense of pride and co-ownership for India's built heritage among its citizens.
The fellowship encouraged fresh perspectives on the tangible and intangible heritage across India, amplification of local voices, shedding light on local conditions to better understand deeper issues related to heritage-driven development, and explaining the interconnectedness of community-based planning, technology-driven conservation, community development initiatives, strategic partnerships, and social justice for communities with the tangible and intangible heritage in each area.
After a thorough selection process, two fellows were selected for the InterGlobe Heritage Fellowships 2022 and undertook projects and research on the topics-
1. Reviving the Lesser Known and Sidelined Musical Instruments - Shreekhol, Taus and Nafiri
This project by Alokparna Das aimed to create a means of generating awareness and initiatives that can help revive these lesser known vadyayantras (musical instruments), mainly Taus, once integral to Gurbani in Punjab, Nafiri, once part of wedding processions and celebrations at Jain shrines in and around Delhi, and Shree Khol, an accompaniment of Vaishnav devotional and folk music of Bengal. These instruments, though not entirely lost, have some lone maestros, instrument-makers and communities who are fighting odds to keep these cultural assets alive.
2. Beyond the geological magnanimity: Cultural Landscape of Lonar Crater
This project by Swapna Joshi attempts to comprehend the changes and tensions between the natural and cultural landscapes of Lonar Sarowar in Maharashtra, a geological phenomenon known for its uniqueness.
Soaked into its mythological status, the saltwater lake and the adjacent village came to be a locus of several temples, tanks and monasteries constructed from the twelfth to eighteenth century CE. Over time, communities in and around the region developed an elaborate range of socio-cultural interactions and expressions with the natural and built heritage around the lake. Declared a protected site under the Ramsar Convention in 2020, changes in the natural and climatic conditions of the crater and its surroundings have affected the state of its tangible and intangible cultural heritage over a period of time.