Initiative involves using multimedia, events, interventions and digital archives to help the local communities keep their heritage alive.
Parvathi Asok, Sruthin Lal. (Supplied)
How aware are the people of Kerala of their own culture or their past?
Not much, says a group of Malayalis leading an initiative to preserve the state’s cultural heritage.
“Even many of my friends do not have a clear idea about the stories of our land,” says Parvathi Asok, 33, an art enthusiast from Thiruvananthapuram, one of the people behind the initiative.
“They know of Dracula, but are unaware of Neeli, the female vampire from our mythology.”
Maintaining that the same goes for history, Asok says Malayalis would know of World War II but will be clueless about the battles of Samoothiri, a powerful chief from the kingdom of Kozhikode, or of Pazhassi Raja, warrior prince and de facto head of the kingdom of Kottayam.
“We Malayalis are global at the cost of being ignorant about our own culture,” she quips.
In her mind, “That is a sad state of affairs.”
It was against this backdrop that, in 2021, Asok co-founded a not-for-profit organisation, the Archival and Research Project (ARPO), to promote Kerala’s heritage.
While Asok is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Policy from IIT Delhi, joining her in the effort are Nevin Thomas, a Kochi resident and an alumnus of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), and Sruthin Lal, a journalist from Kozhikode.
Seetha Sathish, Thirayattam dancer. (Supplied)
The group is passionate about connecting Malayalis to their roots, as, in Asok’s words, “their understanding of their roots is really poor”.
“Even though we are a very informed society, awareness of our history is poor,” she explains.
“Many cultural traditions are dying out here because of a lack of support. These have value in many ways, even by creating income opportunities in areas such as tourism,” she told South First.
And this is what ARPO has set out to do — discover and share lesser-known aspects of Kerala’s cultural heritage through research, digital archiving, multimedia storytelling, and community engagement.
Two years after launching ARPO, the Facebook and Instagram pages have 3,000 followers each, but their reach on the grassroots level is worth noticing.
Helping it in its effort is a network of cultural practitioners, scholars, and historians. “We tap into this network when needed,” says Lal.
Lal, who is spearheading ARPO’s multimedia efforts, says he was struck by how little Malayalis knew of the heritage of Kozhikode, a place where he grew up.
In this connection, he cites the traditional temple dance forms such as the Thirayattam and Theeyattu, or ritual art forms like Kalamezhuthu, where the deity’s form is drawn on the floor.
Tribal music performance in the first edition of Earthlore. (Supplied)
“You won’t hear about these otherwise even in other parts of Kerala,” he told South First.
“Even the history of Kozhikode is not talked about or written about much, though it has influenced setting the course of history in the Indian context.”
Lal, 33, today uses multimedia and his journalistic skills to address this by documenting Kerala’s rich culture and history through storytelling, events, creating digital archives, and interventions.
One of the more recent posts on the ARPO page is about a female performer of Thiryattam — a traditional dance form mainly performed by men.
As she decks up in heavy and elaborate attire, the dancer turns to the camera to say she wants to break the stereotype in Kerala.
“I want to change the entrenched belief that women should not perform Thiryattam,” the dancer says in the short documentary. “I hope more women get inspired by me to start performing it.”
The response to the video has been enormous, with social media users rooting for the artiste.
ARPO’s latest initiative, Lorekeepers, is an intervention to preserve traditional folk tales.
“We work with schoolchildren to make them collect vanishing oral traditions from their locality using their mobile phones and we crowdsource them,” Lal said, referring to tales, songs, and lullabies which were sung by the older generation and are no longer sung or told today.
Supported by the Bengaluru-based Faizal and Shabana Foundation, which works for community development under various verticals, Lorekeepers has already collected hundreds of folk tales and songs, which are available on ARPO’s website and social media platforms.
“These will be also available in the form of videos,” says Lal. “We will also be creating children’s books and audiobooks using these stories.”
In another initiative, ARPO undertook a project to restore the “mandapa” of Kozhikode temple; a heritage architectural feature of temples in Kerala, the “mandapa” is a porch-like structure leading to the inner sanctum.
“We crowdsourced funds, brought conservation architects, and worked with traditional carpenters and masons for this project,” Lal explains.
In the process, the ARPO team came across various interesting aspects of heritage architecture; for instance, the use of Ayurvedic medicines traditionally used as a wood coating — for which these days varnish is used.
“We searched and located an Ayurvedic practitioner who made such oils and engaged him in this project,” says Lal.
Another intervention involved taking active steps to save the dwindling community of artisans making Malabar hookahs.
Malabar hookah. (Supplied)
Lal says Malabar hookahs have been made in northern Kozhikode “for at least 300 years” and was “a vestige of millennia-old trade relations between Kerala and the Middle East”.
“We found out that the craft, which was practised by hundreds of craftsmen a few decades ago, is now practised by only a handful,” he says.
ARPO decided to offer these handfuls of artisans marketing support so they could continue to make a living.
ARPO started working with the last manufacturer of this craft and helped him sell dozens of the hookahs domestically, something he thought was not possible.
“We hope the domestic demand will help this craft survive,” says Lal.
Yet another ARPO intervention is an initiative called Earthlore that seeks to promote the tribal music of Kerala through various means, including collaborating with national and international professionals to produce music videos.
Irulas practicing music. (Supplied)
As part of the initiative, ARPO has begun archiving tribal songs, language, culture, cuisine and way of life for presentation via social media and public programmes without any adulterations.
The first edition of Earthlore saw indigenous artists sharing the stage with professional musicians at a musical concert at Bolgatty Palace in Kochi last year.
Musical workshops and performances were subsequently held at Kochi Biennale, Kozhikode Museum, and the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav event in Delhi.
The indigenous artists hailed from the Irula tribe from Attappadi in Palakkad and the Kattunayakkar tribe from Wayanad.
ARPO’s music production team visited both tribes and recorded their music in their natural settings, and later collaborated with Julian Schoming, a musician from Berkley, to rearrange and remaster it.
“After a lot of iterations, they gave us a product which was truly magical,” says Asok.
Apr 26, 2024
Apr 26, 2024
Apr 26, 2024
Apr 26, 2024
Apr 26, 2024
Apr 26, 2024
