DakshinaChitra
Established | 14 December 1996 |
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Location | East Coast Road, Muttukadu, Chennai, India |
Coordinates | 12°49′21″N 80°14′35″E / 12.822423°N 80.243098°E |
Type | Heritage centre |
Collection size | 4,220 artefacts and 1,000,000 pictures |
Founder | Madras Craft Foundation |
Curator | Deborah Thiagarajan |
Architect | Laurie Baker Benny Kuriakose |
Website | dakshinachitra.net |
DakshinaChitra ("a picture of the south") is a
Developed as a heritage village, DakshinaChitra has an array of displays and relocated originals of dwellings depicting the life pattern of people in the states of southern India. The exhibits portray the architecture, art, folk performing-arts and craft of South Indian traditions. The amenities include a research unit, crafts bazaar, playground, an area to hold religious functions, stone workshop, and souvenir kiosks.[1] There are craftsmen who permanently work at DakshinaChitra who demonstrate or explain how they make their wares.[2] Besides workshops are conducted regularly for various crafts by artists who rent the community studio.[3]
History
DakshinaChitra, meaning "a picture of the south",
The roots of this museum can be traced back to the open-air museums of Europe, the United States, Japan and Southeast Asia, though its closest precursor is
Design
The museum's master plan was developed by architect Laurie Baker, free of cost, because of his interest in rural architectural design. A master plan is a small-scale graphic outline that shows all the major elements of a project. Laurie Baker, known for his unconventional approach, included the use of local materials and the adaptation of artisanal production methods suited to the environment in design. Baker began his master plan for DakhshinaChitra as a map, which in execution on site was different from the it. He planned to represent architecture of each southern state as a village with its small streets and walkways. Baker did not want to have grand buildings in the campus. He thought that ‘this place’ should deal with arts and crafts of ordinary people. He pursued his philosophy of ‘small is beautiful’. Benny Kuriakose, the architect who carried out the work later, recalls in one of his articles that Baker said; “the idea is to abandon the big exhibition pavilion system entirely. For one thing, they can’t be typical or genuine because our forebears didn’t have such things, and for another thing, folk stuff is mainly small. Blow it up and out of size, it is all wrong.”[15]
Kuriakose, retained the main "spatial types and syntax", but altered the layout of master plan.[15] The reason for this change was due to change in circumstances around the site location. One such example is the change of entrance from side road to the East Coast Road. When Baker prepared the master plan, the sizes and styles of the buildings which are purchased were not known. To accommodate these transplanted buildings, master plan had to be modified.[15] Although Kuriakose's association with Baker and Thiagarajan started in 1984, with MCF, he became involved with buildings in DakshinaChitra only in the second half of 1995, with the construction of the three houses in Kerala section- Calicut house, Puthupally house and Koothattukulam house. Later, they designed the main reception center, the stores, the gallery, the restaurant, guesthouses 2 and 3, and the other minor public buildings.[15]
Collection
Architecture
The complex brings together old buildings that have been transplanted from other sites, to give an idea of vernacular architecture and forms of community living from southern states namely Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. It has zones devoted to these four southern states. The architecture is not grandiose, and is not folk either, this is mostly urban middle class traditional architecture, which means it is a complex that eschews spectacle and grand scale, as well as ethnography.
The museum has 18 heritage houses representing the living styles of people from the states. The original houses in their "vernacular style" were purchased by MCF and were recreated by a team of masons, carpenters and architecture students. The purchase costs varied from Rs. 50,000 for ordinary mud houses to Rs. 1.5 million for the Chettinad merchants' mansions with crafted doors and woodwork.[11] They were then dismantled systematically under the guidance of stapathis (temple architects). The dismantled elements were transported to the museum site and recreated at the allotted space in their exact original form. Apart from recreating the homes, the roads and all other features that existed in the old village sites were recreated.[7][16]
Si No: | State | Type of building |
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1 | Tamil Nadu |
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2 | Andhra Pradesh |
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3 | Karnataka |
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4 | Kerala |
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Tamil Nadu section showcases how yesteryear merchants, Brahmins, silk weavers, agriculturists and potters lived. The Ikat weavers house and coastal Andhra house are exhibited in Andhra Pradesh section. The Ilkal weavers house and a house from Chikamagalur are at display in Karnataka section. In the Kerala section, the Syrian Christian house known for its distinctive layout with the entrance leading directly to the granary, the Hindu house built largely using jackfruit wood and palmyra and the Calicut house representing homes in north Kerala are displayed.[17]
Artefacts
The collection consists of items of daily life used in the southern states. As of 2014, there were 4,220 artefacts on display; 3,200 are objects 950 are textiles and 70 contemporary works. The textile collection consists of cotton and silk attires of male (dhoti, lungi, kurta, turban, cap, ceremonial attire), female (saree, blouse, half saree, full skirt, set mundu, veil, scarf), furnishings, yardage (Real Madras Handkerchief, Ikat, Kalamkari etc. ), Telia Rumal, decorative wall hangings and ritual textiles.[18] The entire display is in the English language, and highlights the cultural aspects of people and the craft traditions of heritage homes of South India.[7]
Library and Archives
DakshinaChitra has collection of over 14,000 books and journals on South Indian arts, crafts, performance, anthropology and folklore. The Library includes the National Folklore Support Centre's collections and also houses more than 1,00,000 photographs and a vast collection of DVDs, CDs and tapes. Some of the archives are of old journal collections such as Marg, India Magazine, Lalit Kala, Sangeet Natak as well as other journal collections such as South Asian Studies, Art India etc. They also have census reports on crafts, houses, festival and out-of-print books on crafts and arts. DakshinaChitra accepts donation of books related to art, craft and culture of South India.[18]