Located in the Koradi Temple complex, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan’s Sanskritik Kendra is a palatial architecture that makes stories from Ramayana come alive. Honourable President Draupadi Murmu will inaugurate the Sanskritik Bhavan on July 5. It will be open to the public from July 8.
The outer wall of the building is embellished with sculptures depicting stories from Ramayana and Vishnu Purana. A 20 feet high statue of Lord Hanuman, carved in 8-tonne heavy Black Granite, greets you in the outer gallery. The idol was made in Mahabalipuram and brought to Nagpur by road.
Walk past it to the main door. Goddess Lakshmi, carved in wood, sits atop this main entrance, just like on the doorways of Mysore’s Lakshmi Vilas Palace. Step in and a palatial glimmer of golden wall and ceiling engravings meets the eye. Representatives from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan inform that the golden carvings are made using a special fibre material set in moulds. The main hall, on the first floor, features over 120 paintings that narrate Ramayan in its entirety as per popular depiction. Thus is named ‘Ramayana Darshanam Hall’ The 14760 ft hall is decorated with delicate motifs and Yali (a mystical creature with features of a lion and elephant) pillars made by Dr. K Dakshinamoorthy from Chennai.
All the paintings in this cultural centre are handmade, using the oil on canvas technique. The galleries outside the main halls feature about 10-12 feet high portraits of valiant Indian rulers, including Chhatrapati Shivaji and freedom fighters like Queen Chennamma.
The second floor of the building is named ‘Bharat Mata Sadanam’ because of the huge Bonze idol of Bharat Mata. This hall features picture-perfect oil paintings of Indian freedom fighters. The peripheral wall showcases 12 important rebellions leading up to India’s Independence. Portraits of soldiers who lost their lives in military battles are also kept here.
As per the representatives of Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, the Ramayana Darshanam Hall is even larger than the Ramayana Darshan Hall at the Vivekananda Memorial at Kanyakumari.
