Thursday, November 21, 2024

When in Manipal

When in Manipal, you can have a relaxed cruise in the backwaters and witness the confluence of the Suvarna river joining the Arabial sea.
Or witness a mythological skit in action
But one must not miss the Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village Museum. This is not an ordinary museum but are houses that have been transplanted from various parts of the country.
It is not only the houses but artefacts too have also been moved.
A guide will accompany you explaining each and every item with some interesting stories.
For example here is a stone on which history was written, but then it is interesting to know how the stone had a transformation in between. You can hear it from the guide himself in the video.
Here is a table with chairs for the zamindar and the praja. It is worth noticing that the zamindar's chair is higher than the praja's chair
A cradle designed for twins
One of the oldest Harmonium where pedals helped in pushing the wind. I noticed that it is a folding type where it will fit into that box.
When you enter the Mudhol Palace Durbar hall, don't miss the water trough to wash your feet before entering the durbar hall courtyard.
The Deccani Nawab Mahal had a cast iron spiral staircase too.
I noticed that there was music playing in each house, but it was not piped music centrally played and common for all. The Mangalore Christian house had English music, whereas some other houses had carnatic music.
The Kunjur Chowkimane was built in the architectural style of Kerala based from the 15th century. The plan of the structure follows a Mandala. The basic house module is Nalukettu. (Nalu is 4 and kettu is Wings)
Noticed an old projector hanging on a wall in one of the houses, probably worked with a petromax.
Some houses had ergonomically designed seats that ventilate as well as ensure privacy on the first floor.
Trellis of windows were designed with a purpose
The dead body carrier for muslims is also preserved
We got a lot of information from our guide Mr Sushanth who was patient enough to explain everything in detail. I was also happy to see many school children visiting the place. This is the right time for them to learn history with the objects/houses in front of them.

This tree must have witnessed many changes that have happened in this museum during the course of time.
When watching the video, turn on the subtitles to understand better.