BHUBANESWAR: A book documenting the heritage of river Mahanadi was released by the Odisha chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage at Cuttack on Saturday.Released by academician and Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee Priyambada Mohanty Hejmadi and INTACH chairman Major Gen LK Gupta, the book titled ‘Heritage of the Mahanadi Valley in Odisha’ is the result of the exhaustive documentation drive that began in 2018. Details of as many as 500 monuments and intangible heritage along the Mahanadi have been presented in the book.
Convenor of state chapter of INTACH Amiya Bhusan Tripathy said five teams of heritage enthusiasts were formed which covered nearly 450 km of the river covering Sambalpur, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, parts of Angul, Subarnapur, Nayagarh, parts of Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur. “We had decided to list and document monuments, ancient structures within 5 km of both sides of the river. We had started the project from Sambalpur,” he said.
The project team members included Anil Dhir, Deepak Kumar Naik, Neha Sharma, Bisweswar Prusty, Sarat Satpathy, Tarini Prasad Panda, Deepak Panda and late Abhay Padhi.Tangible heritage like temples, palaces and forts had come up along Mahanadi while intangible heritage like folklore, songs and dances, tribal art and craft had also thrived along the river.
Tripathy said all important heritage sites have been photographed, videographed and documented with details. The book will serve as a road map for those into conservation, history and research, he added.
On the occasion, the second edition of the book ‘Conservation, the Odissan Way’ authored by Director of INTACH Conservation Centre Mallika Mitra was also released.