By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Forty girl students of Maharshi Karve Stree Shikshan Samstha’s Dr Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture (BNCA), Pune, visited Bhubaneshwar for a four-day study tour. The tour was part of AICTE’s Tourist Destination Adoption Programme ‘Beyond Heritage’ in which documenting a city of heritage value through effective photography and videography was done on Social Media by B.Arch students.
BNCA is part of the 128 year old Maharshi Karve Stree Shikshan Samstha founded by Bharat Ratna Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve. The architecture college alone has more than a thousand girl students studying in various Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral courses.
In 2022, it was advised by the Prime Minister’s Office, that for enhancing the knowledge of students about their country, each institute should identify a tourism destination, encourage students to learn about the destination, organize activities centered around it throughout the year, and encourage them to visit the place as a part of an annual study tour.
Students studying in Master and Bachelor Architecture at BNCA had chosen Odisha as their destination for study. The evolution of Odishan temples, their significance in the development of the North Indian style, and the associated arts like sculpture, painting, dance, textile, etc. were the focus of the study. They were accompanied by faculty members Dr. Sharvey Dhongde who is also the Co-convener of INTACH Maharashtra State Chapter, Prof Surabhi Gadkari who is a Digital Architect, Prof Sourab Marathe who is an Indologist and Conservation Architect, and Prof Neha Adkar, a Landscape Architect.
The students visited the Lingaraj, Anant Vasudev, Parsurameshwar, Mukteshwar and the 64-Yogini temples. They also visited Jagannath Puri and Konark sun temples. They spent time understanding the Pattachitra art from master artists in Raghurajpur and visited the Pipili crafts village. They also studied the new architecture of Orissa by visiting a few contemporary buildings, including the Krishi Bhavan in Bhubaneswar.
Anil Dhir, a heritage expert from INTACH’s Odisha Chapter guided the students on this visit. He explained to them the main features of Odishan temple architecture on each site. He made available to them important books on the antiquities of Odisha and also took them to the State Museum to explain to them the transcription and conservation of ancient texts that the Museum had undertaken.
The students will soon create a blog and an Instagram account that will showcase their learnings and observations to the public. Their social media networking will take these glimpses of Odishan heritage far and wide, especially to the new generation and encourage them to visit the state.
