At the invitation of Creative School, Bengaluru, the BhāratShakti team researched and curated a 58-poster exhibition titled ‘Hampi: A UNESCO World Heritage Site” to be used as a part of an educational project for the students.

The posters incorporated many pictures taken at various places in Hampi (permission was taken from the photographer) along with some relevant facts about the history of Vijayanagara empire, the legends associated with Hampi, magnificence of Hampi as a highly prosperous city during the peak of Vijayanagara empire, the architectural and sculptural riches of Hampi, the connection of Hampi with stories from the Ramayana and several other aspects. The interdisciplinary approach was kept to facilitate a more integral approach to learning.

Recently, children of grades 3 and 4 at Creative School were part of an intensive learning project on Hampi. BhāratShakti exhibition posters served as important anchor and starting point for the entire project. The project involved travel to Hampi, reading some age-appropriate relevant literature, co-creating learning through arts-based projects, and more.

A detailed report was sent by one of the teacher-leaders of Creative School. This report summarizes how BharatShakti exhibition has potential to facilitate meaningful learning along the lines of integral education.

Shared below are excerpts from the report sent by Creative School.

This term, these posters about Hampi, allowed all of us in Orchid class (Grade 3 and 4 children) to travel back in time and get a glimpse of the rich and marvellous history of this region, it’s connection to Ramayana, the spiritual significance of this place, and the splendid architecture, carvings and sculptures, it houses. 

We read a book titled, “A Clown for Tenali Rama’ as part of the Book Club. The story is set in Hampi of the present as well as the past. The posters complemented the story very well, by providing us with additional information about both Vijayanagara kingdom as well as the present day Hampi.

Both before and after our trip to Hampi, children have enjoyed reading these posters, collecting facts about Hampi’s history, sculptures, architecture, and mythology. During art class, children learnt the skills of sketching by learning to draw the various sculptures, carvings and temple structures, from the images in these posters. 

We are now concluding the term with a Learning Mela, where children are showcasing their learnings to their parents and the school community. These posters set the foundation for our children to joyfully explore and come up with three performances for the Learning Mela. The areas encapsulated in these performances are:

• The Amazing Vijayanagara (Includes a dance invoking Lord Virupaksha and a speech by children about the marvels of Vijayanagara kingdom)
• The Ramayana Connection (Includes a play about Sugreeva and Vali to show the mythological origins of Hampi’s unique stone strewn geography and a speech by children explaining the scientific reason for the same as well.)
• Governance then and now (Includes a play showing a modern twist to a Tenali Rama story, and a speech by children to show their understanding of the difference between how governance happened back then under a King’s rule and how it is now in a democratic country.)
• Art (Includes sketches, installation and block printing on cloth, by children from the visit to Hampi and from the posters provided.)

A big gratitude from our team for this wonderful opportunity to learn through these posters!

The Mother has emphasised how important it is to create or awaken in children a real interest in study, the need to learn and to know, to awaken their mental curiosity (CWM, 12: 333). The well-researched and carefully designed Hampi exhibition posters when creatively used by trained teachers who are well-grounded in interdisciplinary and holistic approaches to teaching-learning became a great vehicle for awakening healthy curiosity and a need to learn among the students.