Heritage dance festival to be held at Ramappa Temple on Dec 24

Internationally renowned Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam artiste Mallika Sarabhai and her disciples will be performing in this festival

Mulugu: The Kakatiya Heritage Trust (KHT) in collaboration with Paramparaa Foundation will organise the ‘Heritage Dance Festival’ at the UNESCO world heritage site Ramappa Temple on December 24.

After being recognised as a world heritage site in 2021, Ramappa temple is all set to be the venue for the first heritage dance festival on December 24. Internationally renowned Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam artiste Mallika Sarabhai and her disciples will be performing in this festival.

Starting this year, the heritage festival will be an annual feature with one day and over a period of three years, will be spread out over three days, according to a press note by the KHT.

This programme is organised as part of the ‘Gudi Sambaraalu’, programme, a temple dance festival, which was launched by Shashi Reddy and Dr Srinagi B Rao for the love of temples and all aspects related to culture. It was initiated as an attempt to revive the arts in temples and to reconnect with the rich heritage. They have hosted various festivals over the years.

It may be added here that former IAS officer B V Papa Rao along with Professor M Pandu Ranga Rao established the KHT to promote the Heritage of Kakatiyas, the dynasty which ruled Telangana for hundreds of years.

The Trust has been very active in heritage education and brought out several publications on Kakatiyas’ history and heritage.

Both Papa Rao and Pandu Ranga Rao played a key role in bringing the world heritage site tag to the Ramappa temple.