11-19-2003, 02:31 PM
[url="http://pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/lyr2003/rnov2003/11112003/r1111200311.html"]http://pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/lyr2003...1111200311.html[/url]
VEDIC CHANTING DECLARED INTANGIBLE HERITAGE OF HUMANITY BY UNESCO
The oral tradition of vedic chanting has been declared intangible heritage
of humanity by UNESCO. In a meeting of jury members on 7th November, 2003
at Paris, Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, declared the
chanting of vedas in India outstanding example of heritage and the form of
cultural expressions. The proclamation says in the age of globalisation and
modernisation when the cultural diversity is under pressure, the
preservation of oral tradition of vedic chanting, a unique cultural
heritage has great significance. Total 80 entries were received for this
purpose from all over the world and the jury members included Dr. Richard
Kurin, Director of the Center for Folklore and Cultural Heritage of the
Smithsonian Institution (United Nations), Mr. Juan Goytisolo Writer
(Spain), Mr. Yoshikazu Hasegawa (Japan), Ms. Olive W.M. Lewin. Pianist,
ethnomusicologist, Director of the Jamaica Orchestra for Youth (Jamaica).
The UNESCO declaration will bring international recognition to the
excellence of the vedic chanting tradition of India, which have survived
for centuries encoding the wisdom contained in the Vedas through an
extraordinary effort of memorisation and through an elaborately worked out
mnemonic methods. The purity and fail-safe technique devised for Vedic
chanting in the olden days led to access to one of the ancient literatures
of humanity in its entirety.
The Department of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and Culture took the
initiative to put up the candidature of the vedic chanting to UNESCO. A
presentation was prepared by Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. The
Department has also prepared five year action plan to safeguard, protect,
promote and disseminate oral tradition of vedic tradition in terms of their
uniqueness and distinctiveness, encourage scholars and practitioners to
preserve, revitalise and promote their own branch of vedic recitation as
the custodians of their own traditions and direct the efforts primarily to
making the tradition survive in its own context.
VEDIC CHANTING DECLARED INTANGIBLE HERITAGE OF HUMANITY BY UNESCO
The oral tradition of vedic chanting has been declared intangible heritage
of humanity by UNESCO. In a meeting of jury members on 7th November, 2003
at Paris, Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, declared the
chanting of vedas in India outstanding example of heritage and the form of
cultural expressions. The proclamation says in the age of globalisation and
modernisation when the cultural diversity is under pressure, the
preservation of oral tradition of vedic chanting, a unique cultural
heritage has great significance. Total 80 entries were received for this
purpose from all over the world and the jury members included Dr. Richard
Kurin, Director of the Center for Folklore and Cultural Heritage of the
Smithsonian Institution (United Nations), Mr. Juan Goytisolo Writer
(Spain), Mr. Yoshikazu Hasegawa (Japan), Ms. Olive W.M. Lewin. Pianist,
ethnomusicologist, Director of the Jamaica Orchestra for Youth (Jamaica).
The UNESCO declaration will bring international recognition to the
excellence of the vedic chanting tradition of India, which have survived
for centuries encoding the wisdom contained in the Vedas through an
extraordinary effort of memorisation and through an elaborately worked out
mnemonic methods. The purity and fail-safe technique devised for Vedic
chanting in the olden days led to access to one of the ancient literatures
of humanity in its entirety.
The Department of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and Culture took the
initiative to put up the candidature of the vedic chanting to UNESCO. A
presentation was prepared by Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. The
Department has also prepared five year action plan to safeguard, protect,
promote and disseminate oral tradition of vedic tradition in terms of their
uniqueness and distinctiveness, encourage scholars and practitioners to
preserve, revitalise and promote their own branch of vedic recitation as
the custodians of their own traditions and direct the efforts primarily to
making the tradition survive in its own context.