KOCHI: A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help protect one of the world’s oldest known theatre art forms from dying out for want of patronage and interest in the modern world. The Nepathya Centre for Koodiyattam in Kerala is being supported by Sahapedia, the online encyclopedia of Indian arts and culture, in its goal to raise Rs 20 lakh via the crowdfunding platform BitGiving (https://www.bitgiving.com/nepathya), to train a new generation of artists in what constitutes the only surviving form of ancient Sanskrit theatre in the world.
Nepathya’s founder and guru Margi Madhu says the lack of public awareness is one of the reasons for poor financial support and dearth of young artists keen to learn. The crowdfunding drive is also doubling up as an awareness campaign.