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Udupi : Built on a sprawling campus of
six acres in Manipal, Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village aims at restoring and
conserving India''s cultural wealth in the form of traditional buildings and
objects of art, craft and artefacts. It houses 26 structures, both heritage and
functional. Museums and ancient wonders such as Tanjore Art Gallery, Raja Ravi
Varma Lithography Press Museum, Ganjifa Art Gallery, contemporary art and crafts
museum and Jangam Math have been brought to life here. The highlights are
restored houses or lifestyle museums that include Bhatkal Navayat Muslim House,
Vaderhobli House, Mangalore Christian House, 160-year-old Malnad House from
Sringeri and Byndoor-Nellyadi House among others
Main attractions:
Kunjur Chowkimane:
Shenoy recalled that 185-year-old Kunjur Chowkimane was the first house built at
the village. The two-storeyed house, originally situated at Yermal, belonged to
family of Shivalli Brahmin priests-turned agriculturists, who over the time
became landlords.
The house has several rooms including rooms for
grocery storage, women and delivery. It even has kuttatta above the kitchen that
allows smoke to escape. All the windows are at ground level. Apart from optical
illusion windows, there are windows that can modulate and control the inflow of
both light and air with sliding shutters.
The house is equipped with an auto-burglar lock, unique feature found only in
southern part of coastal Karnataka (South Canara belt). The ceiling tiles and
Basel Mission roofing tiles placed with air gap space reduces the heat inside
the building. Shenoy said, the domestic, social and climatic condition determine
the structure of the house. The house also a provision for sparrows to come
inside as people then believed that they beget progeny.
The architecture of the house is based on the 15th century book Manushyalai
Chandrika. The house is Naalkettu or four-sided structure with central side open
for natural air conditioning. There is only one private room for Yajamana
(master bedroom) in the southwest upstairs and has a large general living room
for women. Second floor is used as an attic to store vessels. Speciality of the
house is that no nails have been used while restoring the structure that used
3,000 cubic metre of timber.
Kamal Mahal: The 700-year-old building painstakingly restored or recreated to
the point of orientation from Kukanoor village in Koppala district comprises
private chamber of Vijayanagar Empire Chief of Army (Governor). The dismantled
items were brought all numbered and coded
Mudhol Palace Durbar Hall: The 300-year-old
palace belongs to Ghorpade royal family. The entire ceiling of the Durbar hall
is a single wooden structure and flaunts German lamps, Belgium glass kerosene
lamps and ivory decoration on the ceiling border.
Deccani Nawab Mahal:
There is an interesting story behind 220-year-old mahal's restoration that
belonged to one of the wealthy Barid Shahi nawabs and was located 60 km away
from Humnabad. Shenoy was taken blind-folded in a bike from Bidar for four
hours. Marvel is that the whole area was reconstructed only through mental
calculations.
Shenoy said that it reflected the family''s lavish lifestyle. All the new
products introduced in Europe such as Belgian glasses and lamps, Austrian
Chandeliers, German floor tiles, Birmingham-made iron casting spiral staircases
were all imported to India and was housed in the mahal.
Harihar Mandir:
The 400-yr old Kerala-style temple, all collapsed and soaked in rain water, was
found near Somwarpet of Coorg. Perhaps area''s oldest temple style, its outer
structure with wooden rafters jetting out is very sturdy. The karnamucchige on
the ceiling has three parts with intricate wooden carvings
Tanjore Art Gallery:
Tanjore Art Gallery houses 200-year-old Tanjore paintings of the time of Maratha
king Sarfoji II. The paintings over 200 in number were recovered from erstwhile
royal family. The collection has a rare painting of 108 Bharatanatyam Karanas,
all arranged in Tanjore Gopuram style.
Other attractions:
In the unique folk art museum complex are housed 1,080-year-old almost fossiled
five giant wooden idol, Kecha Rahutas, worshipped in the pre-historic era.
Shenoy said that the wooden idol recovered from Tantrady near Mandarthi probably
was inspired by dinosaurs. This apart, there is also a bazar that highlights
radio repair shop, clock repair shop etc.
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