Constructing St' Thomas Foundation at Pattanam  Through Imported Students From Georgia University
The Hindu-25-12-2011
Thiruvananthapuram Edition

Eleven students from University of Georgia has landed at Kerala to learn through workshop and field studies to learn the historical, theological and sociological aspects of Kerala. The  major themes include-the ancient trading port of Muziris and Christianity in the state.The students will attend prayer service at Cheriyapalli at Kottayam.. Uttiyo Raychaudhari, associate director at the University's  global programmes in Sustainability and Farley  Richmond Professor of Theatre and Film studies are the academic directors of the course

  http://expressbuzz.com/cities/kochi/Report-sought-on-Muziris-Biennale-Funding/345477.html

 

Financial Irregularities Behind  Pattanam Archaeology Gets Exposed

 

Report Sought on Muziris-Biennale Funding

 

 

Prabhat Nair

 

Express News Service

Last Updated : 21 Dec 2011 11:39:22 AM IST

 












KOCHI: The Kerala Government has sought a report on the funding for the Kochi Muziris Biennale and also about the activities of the Kochi Biennale Foundation, the private trust that has been formed for conducting the biennial.
“The Culture Secretary has been asked to submit a report at the earliest regarding the funds that have been transferred to the Kochi Biennale Foundation and about its activities,” Cultural Affairs Minister K C Joseph told Express. “The Secretary has been asked to look into the various media reports that had come out against the functioning of the Kochi Muziris Biennial,” he said and added that he had got numerous complaints from artists regarding it. The artists had also given a memorandum against the Kochi Biennale Foundation, Joseph said. Stating that it was the previous government that had allotted `5 crore for the Kochi Muziris Biennale, Joseph said everything would be looked into. A decision would be taken after getting the report from the Secretary, he added. The government was forced to ask the Culture Secretary to furnish a report after the artistic community raised doubts about the functioning of the biennale. Renowned artist and former executive member of Kerala Lalit Kala Akademi B D Dattan said that the entire artistic community was against the way the government had given the power to the  Kochi Biennale Foundation for conducting the biennale. “There is no accounting for the `5 crore that had been already given to the foundation, which has Bose Krishnamachari and Riyas Komu at the top of the trust. How can the government allot such a huge amount of money to a private trust,” he asked.  The foundation is engaged in all sorts of extravaganza and is wasting the tax payers money, he said and added the government should not have sanctioned such a huge amount. Lashing out at the Foundation’s claim that the artists in the state would have a bigger space after the renovation of the Durbar Hall, Dattan said the hall had always been a pride of the artists in the state.

  http://www.deccanherald.com/content/213272/kerala-artists-oppose-international-festival.html

Binale Festival  Aimed to Internationally  Market Pattanam Archaeology Meet Strong Resistance

Kerala artists oppose international festival

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 20, DHNS

Around 25 leading artists from the state, including Kanai Kunhuraman and C L Porinjukkutty, alleged at a press conference here on Tuesday that  norms are being violated to facilitate the event. No Kerala-based artist will be participating in the event, they said. The Rs 75-crore government aid promised for the event organised by a private trust violates all norms. The dissidents demanded a government probe into the issue.

The festival, initiated jointly by the Kochi-Muziris Biennale Foundation and Muziris Heritage Foundation, with government aid, will be held at different venues in Kochi and Muziris, around 25 km from Kochi.

The festival, with Mumbai-based artist Bose Krishnamachari as the director, would witness presentation of artworks, seminars, educational programmes and launch of several books.
Voicing their opposition, the artists said the Kerala Lalitha Kala Academy should have been
entrusted with the responsibility of organising the festival.

Highlighting that the previous LDF government had already disbursed Rs 5 crore for the event, the artists urged the present state government to refrain from releasing further funds. Incidentally, the present UDF government had promised to release Rs 5 crore more.
The festival will be the biggest arts scam in the country, they said.

  Wide Protests Against Marketing Pattanam Archaeology  Under the Guise of Binale Festival and  Tourism

 

Express News Service

Last Updated : 22 Dec 2011 12:46:28 PM IST

 

http://expressbuzz.com/states/kerala/prominent-artists-seek-vigilance-probe/345906.html

 

 

 






THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A group of leading artists in the state who gathered here to protest against the suspicious way in the conduct of Kochi- Muziris- Biennale, have called for a Vigilance probe into the granting of crores of rupees to a Trust in the name of promotion of art.
 The group comprising nationally-acclaimed artists including C L Porinjukutty, Kanayi Kunhiraman, K K Rajappan, K C Chithrabhanu, N N Rimson, Tensing Joseph, Shibu Lopez, Nemom Pushparaj, T V Chandran, Gopikrishnan and Ajith Kumar G told a news conference the other day that the international art festival, which is the first of its kind being hosted in Kochi, has already come under scathing attack from the art fraternity for various reasons like not including the local artists and portraying the traditional art form of Kathakali in a vulgar manner in its brochure. The artists demanded that the State Government revoke the previous LDF Government’s  decision to grant an exorbitant sum of over Rs 70 crore without following any norms to the  Biennale organisers, Kochi Biennale Foundation, a public  charitable  Trust governed by the  provisions of Indian Trust Act(Act II of 1882) led by its president Bose Krishnamaachary and secretary Riyas Komu. The previous LDF government had sanctioned a sum of `73.2 crore for the conduct of Biennale from the Kochi Muziris project fund. The Department of Tourism had sanctioned the release of `5 crore to the Kochi Biennale Foundation to meet the initial cost. They said this sum was unacceptably high as similar events like the Triennale of Central Lalitha Kala Akademi and International Film Festival of Kerala of State Chalachitra Academy were conducted with a budget of around Rs 3 crore. Moreover, the organising of the event had been undertaken by a Mumbai-based private agency, which was not accountable to the State Government in any way.The State Lalitha Kala Akademy had been kept at a distance from the conduct of the international event. Hence, there was a possibility of the grant being misused. Since the government had granted the sum as a monetary aid, the organisers did not have to submit the accounts of the transactions before the government, they alleged. In addition, the previous government had granted several crores of rupees to the Kochi Muziris Foundation Trust for various proposals like installation of statues on roadsides from Nedumbassery airport to Ernakulam and establishment of Kochi Biennale schools without consulting the experts, the artists alleged. It has been pointed out that while Rs 5 crore was allotted as initial cost of the activities including that of the renovation of the Kochi Durbar Hall gallery, the Trust had claimed that they had spent Rs 3.5 crore for renovation itself. The artists claimed that the expense must have been cost only Rs 1.5 crore.The artists wanted the State Government to conduct a Vigilance probe against all concerned including former Cultural Affairs Minister M A Baby as he had visited Venice Binennale along with Trust office-bearers, while he kept the Kochi-Biennale venture as a secret from the artists and art historians of the state

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           Time 24-12-2011; 11.15AM

 

Intellectuals  Condemn Benale Festival and Pattanam

 

Express News Service , The New Indian Express

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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram director P Parameswaran has questioned the logic behind linking the Muziris project with the Indian edition of a foreign festival, Biennale, and criticised the vulgar portrayal of Kerala’s classical art form of Kathakali in the festival brochure.

Express, in its Kochi edition, carried a report the other day on the� controversy over the vulgar portrayal of Kathakali in the brochure which� carries the picture of a painting in which a Kathakali artiste’s embellished head is shown fixed on the body of a muscleman wearing only a loin cloth and carrying a mace in his hand.

Noted artistes such as Kalamandalam Gopi had expressed anguish and protest over the vulgar portrayal in the brochure for the Indian edition of an Italian festival, which is slated to showcase India’s rich cultural and social heritage, which will be taken around the world.

The festival, the brainchild of former minister M A Baby, is expected to attract funding amounting to Rs 100 crore of which a major portion is from the Centre and State Governments.

Responding to the news report, Parameswaran said that the shift in the interest of the stakeholders from archeological excavation to heritage� project and now to conducting a foreign festival to promote tourism was a dubious one.

“To start on an academic note, end up in heritage and tourism projects and link it with Biennale festival, the entire issue is surrounded by a kind of mystery. What I don’t understand is how does Pattanam excavation connected to Biennale, an Italian festival,’’ he said.

A foreign festival, which is in no way connected to the excavation, should not be supported by the government. Now, the brochure reveals what they are aimed at. In the name of culture, in fact, they are denigrating the culture, Parameswaran said.

Attempt to  Transform Adulterated Archaeology at Pattanam into Tourism and Heritage Site of St' Thomas

Archaeologists Respond-
Report by  Times of India

Muziris does not need a tourism tag'
Dec 11, 2011, 02.24AM IST [ Gayathri Sasibhushan ]


KOCHI: The focus of the Muziris project is shifting towards tourism
from the archaeological importance of the findings of the excavation
done at a site, according to archaeology experts. On the sidelines of
an international seminar at Kottappuram on Saturday, many experts said
that the project should be given its due archaeological importance.

The excavation at the Muziris heritage site should have been modelled
after the Anuradhapura excavation project in Sri Lanka, K Krishnan, a
faculty member of archaeology at the University of Baroda, said. The
department of archaeology was part of the of the excavation team at
Anuradhapura, which was at present a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Krishnan said that the importance of Muziris was shifting towards
tourism from the archaeological importance of the findings.

A scholar in the field of geological-archaeology, Krishnan suggested a
comprehensive study technique such as the Hinterland transect survey
for further Kottapuram excavations. "In simple language, this would
mean a more intensive field work with Arcgis software-enabled
equipment, which is an expensive and labour-intensive alternative to
what is being done now," he said.

The shards of pottery and celadon found at the Kottappuram fort were
signs of a much earlier settlement of Portuguese than 1509, said Prof
Doutor Vitor Rodriguez. Doutor, an expert on the Portuguese forts in
south India, said, "Kottappuram will have more relics because the
strategic position of the fort in relation to the ancient Spice route
and further excavations will definitely give us more evidence."

The International Conspiracy for Establishing Pattanam as St' Thomas site

 median.hypotheses.org

Accession date and time 06-12-2011

 Roberta Tomber Stated  that St' Thomas Landed at Pattanam.

Shinu Abraham is consultant -Knanaya Nazrene Christian Academy  at Pattanam

K.P.Shajan and V.Selvakumar Presented Papers on Pattanam for Syro-Malabar Church, Kochi

The International Conspiracy for  Establishing Pattanam as St' Thomas Site

 Migration, Trade and Peoples

Publication en ligne de la Royal Asiatic Society :
Willis M. (ed.), Migration, Trade and Peoples : European Association of South Asian Archaeologists. Proceedings of the eighteenth congress, London, 2005, London : The Br itish Association for South Asian Studies, The British Academy, 2009.

Sommaire

Foreword / Michael Willis. iii

PART 1: INDIAN OCEAN COMMERCE AND THE ARCHAELOGY OF WESTERN INDIA. 1
Editors: Roberta Tomber, Lucy Blue, Shinu Abraham

Preface. 2

- Boats, Routes and Sailing Conditions of Indo-Roman Trade / Lucy Blue. 3

- Strategies for Surface Documentation at the Early Historic site of Pattanam, Kerala: the Malabar Region Archaelogical Survey / Shinu A. Abraham. 14

- Archaeological investigations at Pattanam, Kerala: New Evidence for the Location of Ancient Muziris / V. Selvakumar, K.P. Shajan and Roberta Tomber. 29

- Beyond Western India: the Evidence from Imported Amphorae / Roberta Tomber. 4