Rural Education and Conservation of Heritage Foundation

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Rural Education and

Conservation of

Heritage Foundation

26/43, Janaki Raman Street, West Mambalam, Chennai 600 033. Tel: 9444441181

Email: [email protected]. URL: http://conserveheritage.org &

http://templesrevival.blogspot.com

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What is R.E.A.C.H Foundation?

In R.E.A.C.H, we believe our villages are the most precious heritage that was handed down

to us by ancestors. Therefore the fundamental objective of R.E.A.C.H. is increasing the

awareness about our villages and the rich heritage of them. Such awareness will catalyze

them to know more about their habitat thereby strengthening the traditional knowledge

base.

One important component of our village is the built heritage. It may be an ancient

archaeological mandap, a temple replete with inscriptions extolling the history of the

village or a dilapidated fort or even the old houses built with traditional architecture

and sustainable resources or living heritages like spectrum of festivals sustained by the

temple or many forms of music and story telling.

At R.E.A.C.H. we realize the present society, in all likelihood, will sustain many such

traditions. But there is a widespread ignorance about out immediate heritage. Therefore,

there is a scope to play an informative and active role by those interested in preserving

them. R.E.A.C.H visualizes that the built heritage at present is fast threatened by the

shear negligence about their heritage and symbolic value. R.E.A.C.H will canalize its

resources in this area.

The founders ofR.E.A.C.H

Dr. T. Satyamurthy, who has over 36 years of experience in conservation career as

Superintending Archaeologist (retired), Archaeological Survey of India and as former

Director of Archaeology, Kerala with an equally illustrative academic career with many

publications to his credit.

Mr.S.Hariharan, a leading Charted Accountant of Chennai, who is involved in many temple

renovation works in and around Kanchipuram

Mr. V.Sekar @ Sivapathasekaran, the founder of Thiruvadhiraiyaan Thiruchabhai which

renovates temples in and around Mayarvaram and Tanjore.

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Mr. P.N. Subramanian, a leading I.T. industrialist and consultant

Mr. Sundhar Bharadhwaj a real estate professional and active historian

Mr.Rajan Ganesh the founder of temple_cleaners yahoo group along with his group members.

Focus areas ofR.E.A.C.H

Educational

- To educate the rural folk the importance of their heritage

- To make the rural youth read and understand kalvettus (Stone Inscriptions), palm

leaves, ancient scriptures and teach them preservation techniques.

- Mr. Ravi Sam the leading Industrialist from Coimbatore and an avid patron of

heritage is the Chairman of our Academy Wing A.A.S.A.I. - Academy of ArcheologyandSciences ofAncientIndia

Heritage preservation

- To coordinate efforts to preserve the built heritage like dilapidated temples

with due care to restore their original character and style

- To create a database of ruined and neglected structures from little known

villages that may require attention

- To revive the use of traditional building resources

- To revive intangible heritage

Sustenance

- To generate employment in rural area by evolving the heritage tourism

- Identifying such little known sites and popularizing them by conducting theme-

based tours

- To train rural educated youths as Tourist Guides

- To encourage locals to use the preserved temples as a school or for social

functions, thereby aiding for the sites maintenance and upliftmentFinancial- To extend aid to scholars, traditional artists, pundits and artisans to sustain

themselves and their art

- To create a forum for facilitating corporates and philanthropists to contribute

for the sustenance of ruined heritage buildings and for reviving intangible

heritage.

Immediate programme2


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At R.E.A.C.H., we plan to take the following immediate programme:

- Introduction of a course Understanding our temples through inscriptions

- Creation of a data base on ruined and neglected heritage structures

- Creation of a corpus fund for the rejuvenation of identified ruined temples.

Membership

All heritage, culture and history lovers, enthusiasts who want their culture to be

preserved can contribute to this great idea in following ways:

- Becoming an active member for propagating our objectives

- Identify and intimate us through emails, mails or phone about the temples and other

heritage sites, which are in ruins. Photographs, geographical location with road maps

would be ideal. This would help us in creating a database.

- Generate interest in like-minded youth and develop groups who can volunteer in our

cleaning and reconstruction activities

- Spare some regular amount every month for this cause

- Write and make all friends living in foreign shores to know about REACH and make

them also share our project costs and build up awareness about Indian cultural sites

to their foreign counterparts

- Encourage theme tourism and help friends visit Tamilnadu with a new perspective

through REACH members.

It is our duty to retain the lost glorious past and the symbols of our history. There

are thousands of temples and heritage sites lying in ruins, waiting to unfold the

real history to this modern world. Once lost, they cant be retrieved. It is time for

us to join hands to conserve our heritage. Next time when you pass across a ruined

temple, pass the message to us.

For funding a project:

Donors, philanthropists can send Cheques or Demand Drafts favouring R.E.A.C.HFOUNDATION

payable in Chennai, India

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Documents

Rural Education and Conservation of Heritage Foundation