Here's a treasure trove on dying folk art of Tamil Nadu

The District Central Library at Simmakkal will have a collection of instruments, costumes, cosmetics and other equipment used in folk arts along with books and audio-visual projection materials.
Equipment, cosmetics, and other instruments used by folk artistes on display at a dedicated section in the district central library in Madurai (Special arrangement)
Equipment, cosmetics, and other instruments used by folk artistes on display at a dedicated section in the district central library in Madurai (Special arrangement)

MADURAI: A first-of-its-kind initiative in the State would see the District Central Library (DCL) at Simmakkal hosting an exclusive section on folk arts. This decision to establish the section is a concrete step towards promoting the dying folk art forms as envisaged in the announcement made by the State government in 2017-18. The section would soon be open to the public, and would probably fill the lacuna that hampers the work of researchers owing to a dearth of materials, both for corroboration and reference.

A treasure trove
The library, coming up at a cost of Rs 35 lakh, would be a veritable treasure trove of instruments, costumes, cosmetics and other equipment used in folk arts. Besides, the section on the second floor of the DCL would also stock 200 books and audio-visual projection materials. 

The State government had envisaged six DCLs across the State, having a niche domain. The State had earmarked Rs 1 crore each for developing such sections. As per the tentative scheme, folk art section has been allotted to Madurai DCL; astrology falls into Coimbatore’s kitty; siddha medicine would be Tirunelveli’s specialty. 

Coming back to Simmakkal, the funding agency is the State Text Book Society, while the hall arrangements have been made by the Public Works Department. The New Century Book House (NCBH) had lent support by making available books on Karagattam, Mayilattam, Kavadiattam, Kollattam, Oyilattam, Kummi, Therukoothu and other folk art forms. The section shall also have materials to project folk art forms through audio-visual media.

Funding
Speaking to Express, former District Library Officer (DLO) of Madurai DCL Ramachandran said that the initial fund allotment was of `1 crore. As establishing such infrastructure as is required by the sections did not require such grand sums, the outlay was cropped to Rs 35 lakh. “While we are rich in art forms, we are lacking in proper documentation. This has led to the death of many traditional art forms. It is high time we document the leftovers of the existing folk art forms,” he said.

Not only is there a dearth of books on traditional art forms but also on well informed artistes. It took Ramachandran six months to find a folk artist-cum-research scholar D Govindaraj, who helped him with setting up the section.

Who will benefit
Speaking to Express, Govindaraj said that he is a collector of costumes, instruments, cosmetics and other equipment used in folk arts. He also documented the photographs of 63 folk artistes from 63 different art forms for the library. “My teacher taught me 10 of the 15 adavu forms that he knew in Marakalattam. Since there is no audio-visual documentation of these, the five adavu forms that was known only to him was buried along with him after his death. We have lost so much due to lack of documentation,” he said.

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