Rural Education and

Conservation of
Heritage Foundation
26/43, Janaki Raman Street, West Mambalam, Chennai 600 033. Tel: 9444441181
Email: reach.foundation.india@gmail.com. URL: http://conserveheritage.org &
http://templesrevival.blogspot.com

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What is R.E.A.C.H Foundation?

In R.E.A.C.H, we believe our villages are the most precious heritage that was handed down
to us by ancestors. Therefore the fundamental objective of R.E.A.C.H. is increasing the
awareness about our villages and the rich heritage of them. Such awareness will catalyze
them to know more about their habitat thereby strengthening the traditional knowledge
base.

One important component of our village is the built heritage. It may be an ancient
archaeological mandap, a temple replete with inscriptions extolling the history of the
village or a dilapidated fort or even the old houses built with traditional architecture
and sustainable resources or living heritages like spectrum of festivals sustained by the
temple or many forms of music and story telling.

At R.E.A.C.H. we realize the present society, in all likelihood, will sustain many such
traditions. But there is a widespread ignorance about out immediate heritage. Therefore,
there is a scope to play an informative and active role by those interested in preserving
them. R.E.A.C.H visualizes that the built heritage at present is fast threatened by the
shear negligence about their heritage and symbolic value. R.E.A.C.H will canalize its
resources in this area.

The founders of R.E.A.C.H

Dr. T. Satyamurthy, who has over 36 years of experience in conservation career as

Superintending Archaeologist (retired), Archaeological Survey of India and as former
Director of Archaeology, Kerala with an equally illustrative academic career with many
publications to his credit.
Mr.S.Hariharan, a leading Charted Accountant of Chennai, who is involved in many temple
renovation works in and around Kanchipuram
Mr. V.Sekar @ Sivapathasekaran, the founder of “Thiruvadhiraiyaan Thiruchabhai” which
renovates temples in and around Mayarvaram and Tanjore.

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Mr. P.N. Subramanian, a leading I.T. industrialist and consultant
Mr. Sundhar Bharadhwaj a real estate professional and active historian
Mr.Rajan Ganesh the founder of temple_cleaners yahoo group along with his group members.

Focus areas of R.E.A.C.H

Educational

- To educate the rural folk the importance of their heritage

- To make the rural youth read and understand kalvettus (Stone Inscriptions), palm
leaves, ancient scriptures and teach them preservation techniques.

- Mr. Ravi Sam the leading Industrialist from Coimbatore and an avid patron of
heritage is the Chairman of our Academy Wing A.A.S.A.I. - Academy of Archeology
and Sciences of Ancient India

Heritage preservation

- To coordinate efforts to preserve the built heritage like dilapidated temples

with due care to restore their original character and style
- To create a database of ruined and neglected structures from little known
villages that may require attention
- To revive the use of traditional building resources
- To revive intangible heritage

Sustenance

- To generate employment in rural area by evolving the heritage tourism

- Identifying such little known sites and popularizing them by conducting theme-
based tours
- To train rural educated youths as Tourist Guides

- To encourage locals to use the preserved temples as a school or for social

functions, thereby aiding for the site’s maintenance and upliftmentFinancial
- To extend aid to scholars, traditional artists, pundits and artisans to sustain
themselves and their art
- To create a forum for facilitating corporates and philanthropists to contribute
for the sustenance of ruined heritage buildings and for reviving intangible
heritage.

Immediate programme
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At R.E.A.C.H., we plan to take the following immediate programme:
- Introduction of a course “Understanding our temples through inscriptions”
- Creation of a data base on ruined and neglected heritage structures
- Creation of a corpus fund for the rejuvenation of identified ruined temples.

Membership

All heritage, culture and history lovers, enthusiasts who want their culture to be
preserved can contribute to this great idea in following ways:

- Becoming an active member for propagating our objectives

- Identify and intimate us through emails, mails or phone about the temples and other
heritage sites, which are in ruins. Photographs, geographical location with road maps
would be ideal. This would help us in creating a database.

- Generate interest in like-minded youth and develop groups who can volunteer in our
cleaning and reconstruction activities

- Spare some regular amount every month for this cause

- Write and make all friends living in foreign shores to know about REACH and make
them also share our project costs and build up awareness about Indian cultural sites
to their foreign counterparts

- Encourage theme tourism and help friends visit Tamilnadu with a new perspective
through REACH members.

It is our duty to retain the lost glorious past and the symbols of our history. There
are thousands of temples and heritage sites lying in ruins, waiting to unfold the
real history to this modern world. Once lost, they can’t be retrieved. It is time for
us to join hands to conserve our heritage. Next time when you pass across a ruined
temple, pass the message to us.

For funding a project:

Donors, philanthropists can send Cheques or Demand Drafts favouring ‘R.E.A.C.H FOUNDATION’
payable in Chennai, India

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