Bengaluru has always been known for being a cultural hub — be it in the sense of traditional practices or otherwise. And in times where there is no dearth of such activities, it is not a surprise if you haven't heard of Gudiya Sambhrama hosted by the Heritage organisation, meaning the temple festival. Although conceived five years ago, the not-for-profit organisation is relatively unknown, mostly because of its relatively informal structure. But let that not lead you into doubting their impact.
"We are an organisation that looks at working at anything that disseminates traditional knowledge systems," says Supriya Komandur, who co-founded Heritage with Rekha Raghavan and Vijayalakshmi Vijaykumar. The founders explained that they began their initiative by organising workshops and seminars related to dance, music, Sanskrit and Indic studies.
Gudiya Sambhrama aims at promoting Indian traditions by organising cultural programmes in the premises of temples. The idea behind starting a festival like this was to make it accessible to common people, thereby cultivating interest in the masses. Classical music or dance performances have always only drawn a niche crowd — to attend them, one often has to purchase tickets or passes, and that proves to be an expensive affair for the layman. Also, it is the same crowd that ends up going everywhere. So to put an end to such a trend, Heritage came up with the idea of a temple festival. It entails performances by artistes (dance, music etc) that is spread over six-to-eight weekends in the City during the January-February period.
"Temples were often centres of knowledge and community development in the past. But they have become more commercial over the years. So we decided to host this in many neighbourhoods across the City because people cant travel everywhere," Supriya reasons.
Another intention behind such an initiative is to draw youth and children. So, with the belief that all things are a part of nature, they base their festival on a different theme every year. Last year, the theme was sacred water, and this year, it was sacred earth. They have scholars penning poems for them based on each theme so they can reach out to a wider audience. They have had instances of children going back home and asking their parents about things they have probably picked up at the festival. So one can be assured that there is some kind of awareness that is being created, they believe.
When it comes to organising programmes too, they have a meticulous process in place. There is a selection process involved, wherein artistes apply, making their intentions clear as to why they are keen to participate. They ensure that the applicant knows the Festival's purpose, motive and theme completely enough to be committed to the cause. Needless to say, it is only those truly deserving artistes who are aspiring to be professionals are picked. This is not a spot for those who are looking at it as a hobby. All the slots are curated and candidates are picked by a special committee.
Even established artistes who perform at the Festival are very understanding of them and charge only a part of what they would normally charge otherwise. Gudiya Sambhrama has been organised in several localities across Bengaluru, evoking good responses in most cases, which has been a gratifying experience for the organisers. People who initially started coming out of curiosity later developed interest and stayed and came back the following years. The migrant population too has supposedly taken well to the fest.
The Festival is being organised in Hyderabad starting this year by a different group, under Heritage's expert guidance. So, does Gudiya Sambhrama look at expanding into other parts of Karnataka? "We want to, but do not have the resources or time to do so. If any other individual or organisation is interested to start this, we would like them to take the onus. But we will be fully supportive in whatever way we can," they say.
"We are an organisation that looks at working at anything that disseminates traditional knowledge systems," says Supriya Komandur, who co-founded Heritage with Rekha Raghavan and Vijayalakshmi Vijaykumar. The founders explained that they began their initiative by organising workshops and seminars related to dance, music, Sanskrit and Indic studies.
Gudiya Sambhrama aims at promoting Indian traditions by organising cultural programmes in the premises of temples. The idea behind starting a festival like this was to make it accessible to common people, thereby cultivating interest in the masses. Classical music or dance performances have always only drawn a niche crowd — to attend them, one often has to purchase tickets or passes, and that proves to be an expensive affair for the layman. Also, it is the same crowd that ends up going everywhere. So to put an end to such a trend, Heritage came up with the idea of a temple festival. It entails performances by artistes (dance, music etc) that is spread over six-to-eight weekends in the City during the January-February period.
"Temples were often centres of knowledge and community development in the past. But they have become more commercial over the years. So we decided to host this in many neighbourhoods across the City because people cant travel everywhere," Supriya reasons.
Another intention behind such an initiative is to draw youth and children. So, with the belief that all things are a part of nature, they base their festival on a different theme every year. Last year, the theme was sacred water, and this year, it was sacred earth. They have scholars penning poems for them based on each theme so they can reach out to a wider audience. They have had instances of children going back home and asking their parents about things they have probably picked up at the festival. So one can be assured that there is some kind of awareness that is being created, they believe.
When it comes to organising programmes too, they have a meticulous process in place. There is a selection process involved, wherein artistes apply, making their intentions clear as to why they are keen to participate. They ensure that the applicant knows the Festival's purpose, motive and theme completely enough to be committed to the cause. Needless to say, it is only those truly deserving artistes who are aspiring to be professionals are picked. This is not a spot for those who are looking at it as a hobby. All the slots are curated and candidates are picked by a special committee.
Even established artistes who perform at the Festival are very understanding of them and charge only a part of what they would normally charge otherwise. Gudiya Sambhrama has been organised in several localities across Bengaluru, evoking good responses in most cases, which has been a gratifying experience for the organisers. People who initially started coming out of curiosity later developed interest and stayed and came back the following years. The migrant population too has supposedly taken well to the fest.
The Festival is being organised in Hyderabad starting this year by a different group, under Heritage's expert guidance. So, does Gudiya Sambhrama look at expanding into other parts of Karnataka? "We want to, but do not have the resources or time to do so. If any other individual or organisation is interested to start this, we would like them to take the onus. But we will be fully supportive in whatever way we can," they say.