2nd International Conference on Ramlila: A Festival Celebrating Masterpieces of Intangible Heritage of Humanity begins in Delhi
2nd International Conference on Ramlila: A Festival Celebrating
Masterpieces of Intangible Heritage of Humanity begins in Delhi
The “Second International Conference on Ramlila : A Festival Celebrating
the Masterpieces of Intangible Heritage of Humanity” organized by IGNCA under
Ministry of Culture began in New Delhi last evening. The Seven day long
festival is being organized from November 23 – 29, 2015 at IGNCA, Janpath, New
Delhi.
The Minister of State (I/C) for Culture and Tourism Dr. Mahesh Sharma
inaugurated the Conference. Addressing on the occasion, the Minister said that
the Ramlila depicts the great ancient Indian culture of brotherhood and family
values. If we imbibe these values in to our lives, no bitterness and jealousy
will prevail in our families and in the society at large. He said that it is
heartening to see the participants from so many countries in this International
Conference on Ramlila. The Ramayana pervading across time and space continues
to be a source of socio-cultural, religious and spiritual aspirations of the
people.
The ‘First International Conference on Ramlila’ was held in Trinidad &
Tobago from 12th -14th July, 2013 and was
organized by the Natinal Ramleela Council of Trinidad & Tabago and from
this platform, the Council requested the IGNCA to host the Second International
Conference in India. Conceding to this request, IGNCA is organizing this Seven
Day Festival on Ramlila with the following components:-
1. International Conference on
Ramlila titled
Epic Processes: Mobility, Patronage and Aesthetics.
2. Cultural Performances: Selected forms of Ramlila
performances from across India and Abroad will be showcased.
3. Film Shows: As part of the Conference,
Films from IGNCA Archives on Ramlila will be shown on specific days.
4. Exhibitions: Display from the Archives of
Janapada Sampada Division, IGNCA on Ramlila ; Ramayana
in Indian Visual Art : Exhibition from the Archives of Kalanidhi, IGNCA ;
Mithila paintings on Ramayana - From the collections of Manisha Jha ; and,
Ramnagar Ramlila : A Photographic Exhibition by Media Centre, IGNCA.
The festival is also hosting to Arts and Crafts demonstrations from
different regions of India, sung traditions of folk and tribal communities, and
a food court where ritual foods are available.
Of the varied forms of presentation of the Ramayana text, Ramlila is one of
the most popular forms, particularly in Northern India. IGNCA was instrumental
in getting the Ramlila tradition of India inscribed. As “Masterpieces of the
Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” by the UNESCO in 2005.
In 2007, IGNCA initiated a major programme on ‘Living Traditions of
Ramkatha and Mahabharata’ and has over the past several years built up an
impressive audio - visual archive on these two traditions among different
communities across India. In 2008, it also organized an International
Conference ‘Ramkatha-Ankan, Manchan aur Vaachan’ focusing on folk and tribal
traditions of Ramkatha at the level of text, performance and visual
representations. It may be pointed here that though several conferences at
national and international level on this theme have taken place, Ramlila, has
only now begun to attract the attention of World Scholarship. In 2014, IGNCA
documented the Ramlila of Ramnagar in its entirety.
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