Interschool Cultural Exchange Programme
In this Programme, teachers from various schools in a range of art forms are selected. The cream of this group is chosen to impart their specialized skills to children in different schools.
Bhajan Training Workshops
Bhajans are a part of Indian culture and literally every village has Bhajan groups. Shri Heggade decided that it would benefit them to receive formal training in the art of bhajan singing and in 1999 organized a workshop. Here, invited bhajan groups were taught the correct methods and the discipline of invoking deities through songs. Through these residential workshops participants learnt different types of bhajans like:
Narthan Bhajan where mythology, poetry, music and spiritual content unite in a dance form. Nagar Bhajan where trained groups go from house to house performing bhajans and pujas around the sacred Tulsi. These groups are also trained in Yoga, Omkar Dhyan, Surya Namaskara etc. Today over 300 trained groups are spending the goodness of Nama Sankirthana in Dakshinakannada.
Anche Kuncha
'Catch them young' has always been the aim of Shri Veerendra Heggade, for he is aware that moulding body and mind at this stage offers the best results. To encourage painting amongst school children, he came up with a unique concept in 1999. This involved painting on a postcard (Anche) using a brush (Kuncha) and colours on a particular theme.The postcards are entered in a competion that earns a prize for selected paintings. The first year's theme was ' Rashtra Purusha ' and nearly 12000 children responded. The second year was Bharat Ratna and this year was Shrimad Ramayana. The subsequent years have seen participation rise exponentially. The very best among the paintings are enlarged and displayed at district level exhibitions.
Publication of value-based books
Shri Heggade believes that the gems of ancient wisdom must not be lost to the present generation. To spread the values that our culture has developed on the lives of great spiritual, mythological and historical personalities are published. To ensure that the books are distributed do not remain unread, teachers are encouraged to familiarize themselves first with the books and then to organise competitions based on their contents. Beginning from the interschool level, winners go on to participate in taluk and district level competitons. The response has resulted in publishing over 50,000 books.
Shaikshanika Yoga Sammelana
The desire to excel comes to the fore when one is faced with competition. To constantly fuel interest in Yoga and foster the spirit of competitiveness amongst those who have undergone training under the project, an annual district level Shaikshanika Yoga Sammelana (Educational Yoga Conference) is held. Students are handpicked from schools in each taluk and each school deems it an honor to sponsor participants in this annual event.
Shri Guru Yoga Sangha
This is an association of community elders and teachers that has been established with the aim of inculcating better values in society.
This activity is normally conducted during the school vacations in September - October and April - May. Teachers from various schools are formed into groups and fan out to conduct yoga awareness and practice sessions. The Sangama typically covers:
Surya Namaskara Yoga yagna
The beneficial effects of the Surya Namaskara have been enumerated in our ancient texts but few people practice this simple yet beneficial exercise. Shri Heggade with his now tested formula of using teachers for tested dissemnation, launched this programme in 1995.
Yakshagana
Unique to the west coastal districts, Yakshagana is an ancient art form that depicts stories from Indian mythologies. these folk ballets with constumed artists, profusely masked, are normally all night long performances. Combining song, dance and dialogue, these ballets are basically narrations from stories about the Hindu pantheon of gods. What many may not know is that these yakshagana artists arrive on the stage after long years of training, single minded dedication and a deep sense of commitment.
The Yakshagana troupe of Dharmasthala has been performing for the last two centuries. And for Shri Heggade, yakshagana is specially close to his heart. He has been instrumental in bringing about a revival of this ethinic dance drama by starting a school for Yakshagana. Here budding artistes are trained in the intricacies of this highly demanding folk ballet.
The most interesting part of this Yakshagana troupe is that its performances are booked by devotees as an expression of their thanks giving to the Lord Manjunatha for the favours the god has bestowed on them. And believe it or not, the troupe been booked for years in advance. Today the popularity of Yakshagana has crossed confines of its cradle - Dakshina Kannada - and spread its wings not only in other parts of the country but onto the stages of various countries abroad.
To encourage youngsters to enter the Yakshagana performing stage, a training course is held every year for a duration of six months. It is heartening to note that many new generation artists are the products of Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Yakshagana Kala Kendra. |
