Age old Dogra cultural heritage on display at Kala Kendra

Excelsior Correspondent

Shalendra Kumar having a look on antifacts displayed at Kala Kendra on Wednesday.
Shalendra Kumar having a look on antifacts displayed at Kala Kendra on Wednesday.

JAMMU, Nov 19: To celebrate World Heritage Week, a three-day Heritage Exhibition, representing age old Dogra culture, began today at Kala Kendra by Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages.
Shalendra Kumar, Commissioner Secretary Tourism and Culture, inaugurated the exhibition and visited various galleries. He acknowledged the work and recoded his views on visitor book read as “We need to preserve the artifacts and manuscripts, presently held by Academy and private persons. The Academy of Art, Culture and Languages is doing a praise worthy work in this regard. World Heritage Week Exhibition must inculcate a Culture of preservation of our culture and social behaviour of past.”
Earlier Haroon Rashid Secretary Academy, said that the main aim of this exhibition was to display the age old heritage of Jammu region for public viewing. He said that the main focus was on “Dogra Heritage” and around 200 exhibits of heritage importance, collected by the Academy from across the State, were on the display.
Dr Arvinder Singh Amn, Additional Secretary,   stated that efforts are on to attract young generations to visit Kala Kendra to have a look on centuries old tangible heritage.
The exhibition has been designed by Jagpal Bandral, renowned artist of the State, and assisted by Mukal Magotra.
Dr Sudhir Mahajan, SOCA G-1 who was over all incharge of the programme, explained the details about each exhibit to visitors during inauguration.
Besides Academy, the other private collectors, who contributed the objects for Exhibition are; K D Anand, K K Gandhi, Narinder Singh, Raj Bharti and Azra Chowdhary.
The main attraction of the exhibition are  coins of the different eras including Kushan period,  Dogra period, British period, manuscripts in Sanskrit, Gumukhi of 14th to 18th century AD, Basholi Art,  Mannequins representing Dogra, Kashmiri, Gujjar,  Ladakhi, Pahari, Punjabi in ethnic dresses, idols of Hindu deities, folk musical instruments of Jammu region, Kitchen utensils and other folk exhibits.
The Exhibition will remain open till November 21 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.