Cruise on Krishna river throws light on evolution of village deities

Against the backdrop of a foggy evening sky, calm water and a silhouetting Prakasam Barrage, people listened to the speakers in rapt attention as the latter spoke about the cultural history of Andhra Pradesh and evolution of village goddesses in the State.

The lecture was given during a two-hour cruise on the Krishna river on Thursday (December 4), as part of the programme ‘Know Your Heritage-Culture Cruise’, organised by the Vijayawada Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). Around 60 people took part.

The speakers, authors Vadrevu China Veerabhadrudu and Sree Padma Holt, talked about the concept of village goddesses in A.P., how they have been reimagined and interpreted by devotees over the years with changing times and how they were finally incorporated into Shaiva, Vaishnava and other belief systems.

Tracing the origin of Goddess Kanaka Durga, Padma Holt, an educator and researcher who taught in Bowdoin University, the U.S., talked about how the goddess is an amalgamation of many forms and was a grama devata at first, then a tribal goddess, then she was worhipped as the destroyer of the evil and protector of the people before being worshipped in the present form.

After its launch in October, the Vijayawada Chapter of INTACH planned three ‘Know Your Heritage’ programmes to bring like-minded people on a platform and share their knowledge with others. The remaining two events would be held in the next two months.

INTACH Convenor Sai Papineni said they have also planned Sunday huddles, which would be organised at historical sites in Vijayawada. “The purpose is to inform the public about our history and to take heritage to people. We are starting heritage clubs in schools and are in touch with colleges to get youngsters to contribute to heritage conservation,” Mr. Papineni said.