Intangible Heritage of Vijayanagara: Vijayadashmi Tradition

Abstract

Indian heritage has always given major importance to the celebration of festivals with song, music, drama, rituals, skills, cuisine, crafts and oral traditions. Apart from spiritual and religious importance, Indian societies and communities have incorporated social, cultural and political importance to the celebrations whereby encouraging a process of ‘archival’ of intangible cultural heritage. The Tradition and History of Royal Dasara of Karnataka can be traced back to the Vijayanagara Empire [1336 A.D–1646 A.D]. Keen on protecting the Hindu religion and culture from destruction by Muslim invaders, rulers of the time laid great emphasis on the restoration of temples and religious festivals during their reign. During the period of Krishna Deva Raya of the Vijayanagara Empire, the Navaratri (nine night) festival started receiving royal patronage, and now in the Indian Republic, it has acquired the status of a state festival. It was celebrated with great pomp, enthusiasm and fervour, attracted visitors from many parts of the country and even abroad. Political, administrative, religious, social and cultural significance with the appreciation of the laity added to its grandeur. This chapter will look into both the historical as well as contemporary practices of the Dasara festival celebrations at Hampi and Mysore and bring out the similarities and variations of the rituals and traditions in observing the historical festivities. While the task of research and documentation of these practices have, until now, remained within the domains of anthropologists and cultural historians, now with the aid of technology and the Internet, the community itself can participate directly in the laying out the narratives of these intangibilities, shaping knowledge through annotated enunciations more directly using digital devices.