Chennai, September 13: Twenty specimens of Intangible Cultural Heritage of India have been nominated by the country this year for the first time to UNESCO for recognition.
These include the Kolam ritual of Tamil Nadu, where designs are drawn on the porches of houses, Nacha folk dance of Chattisgharh, Chatriyam music of Assam, and Sankirtan dance of Manipur and the veena tradition, Secretary (Culture) Jawhar Sircar told PTI.
“In the last two years, there were no nominations as such.
This year the Ministry of Culture and the state governments made special efforts and we have been able to put forward 20 nominations to UNESCO this year”.
Jawhar expressed the hope that all the nominations would be given due recognition.
He said at present there are only three recognised heritage specimens — Kutiyattam (Sanskrit Theatre of Kerala), the tradition of Vedic Chanting and Ramlila- the traditional performance of Ramayana, which have been included from India.
According to the 2003 UNESCO’s Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Intangible Cultural Heritage or living heritage is the mainspring of any country’s cultural diversity and its maintenance, a guarantee for continuing creativity.
—PTI