INTACH’s Palakkad chapter is documenting the green heritage of the district

 ‘Marangalum Naattile Kathakalum’ traces interesting stories woven around the grand old trees in villages in Palakkad, including the banyan where OV Vijayan’s novel Khasakkinte Itihasam begins. Today is World Heritage Day

A grand old banyan is the pride of Payyalur, a perennial hub of activities in the picturesque, tiny village nestling beneath the Themmala Hills in Palakkad, Kerala. Chronicling the stories that villagers associate with the banyan is one of the major aims of ‘Marangalum Naattile Kathakalum’ (Trees and the region’s stories), a project initiated by the Palakkad chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). 

‘Marangalum Naattile Kathakalum’ aims at identifying heritage trees in villages across Palakkad district and documenting the stories and memories that villagers associated with the trees. 

Arun Narayanan, convener of the INTACH chapter says: “It is to remind people of our green heritage. In our busy, commercialised and technologically-driven spaces of the modern world, we are fast losing our links with nature and the world around us. We are trying to revive those memories and remind a younger generation of the wonderful stories that used to be woven around trees and nature.”

Launched in February 2022, the project has been documenting the heritage trees in three taluks in Palakkad — Palakkad, Alathur and Chittur. The videos on the trees have been uploaded on  www.naattumaram.com.

In the first phase, volunteers of INTACH visited villages in the three taluks, talked to senior citizens and gathered information. The documentation takes time and planning. Once the volunteers identify the people to talk to, the team visits the village again to document the information as a video story.

The first one to be documented in this manner was the banyan tree in Thasrak, a village 12 kilometres from Palakkad. Thasrak formed the backdrop of OV Vijayan’s Khazakkinte Ithihasam.  “The protagonist Ravi arrives at the village and alights at a bus stop near the banyan tree. Former Malayalam professor Dr P Murali shares with viewers his memories of the author and the place. He recalls how the wind that blows from the hills through the tall karimpana (palms) of Palakkad seeped into the collective consciousness of readers through the iconic book written by Vijayan.

“We hope that once viewers see the video, they will send us videos telling us the stories of the trees in their vicinity. It has to be a people’s project for the plan to succeed,” says Arun.