The concept of Devarakadu or the Sacred Grove is a very popular tradition in Kodagu. Sacred groves exist all over India and in the rest of the world but what makes Kodagu unique is that this little district has probably the highest density of sacred groves in all of India with about 1214 that are officially listed. Almost every village has one or more sacred groves, while 14 villages have more than ten groves each. (Kushalappa and Kushalappa 1996).
This project visualizes the area of land conserved in each village because of sacred groves and the local deities worshipped. The project involved manually mapping data present in older records to their present day villages. Around 700/1214 sacred groves data have presently been mapped and hence some villages might not present data just yet. The colour of the villages reprsent forest cover.
“Spaces and Systems for Learning" is a studio. offered for 2nd and 3rd year UGPP aspiring practitioners of SMI 2022-23! Designed, curated and facilitated by Sudebi Thakurata and co-facilitated by Dr Farhat Ara, this unit explored how Coorg, a highly visited place by tourists, be seen as a learning experience? What kind of learning opportunities can be located and created using design as an approach for people to connect better with the place, appreciate, be aware, take action? As a part of the unit we visited different spaces, both private and public, in Coorg and envisioned accessible, portable, easily usable learning materials which can either enable a traveler to experience, explore or experiment with the place. This is one such attempt to bring a shift in someone to be a traveler from a tourist. We are grateful to Babita Belliappa for being an invaluable part of this experience and Dr Sunil Muddaiya, Manoj Kumar, Arati Monappa, Dr Savinaya MS, Dr Gururaj, Revathi, Vinu, Urvashi, Raagini, Arun Achappa, Chimma, Coorg Institute of Dental Sciences, Pachibale Homestay, Taj Madikeri, Apaulogy gallery and Lightroom bookstore for their support.