Magadi Sachet Kiran
R.V. College of Architecture | Bengaluru

Civilizations come and go, people come and go, but what stays back are the memories and traditions of a place; through means of a symbol, sculpture, monument or even just a simple piece of rock. Habitats fade away because of natural disasters, few due to its own poisonous politics and few for a “greater good”. Does this gamble for greater good always turn out to be so great that the essence of revival of its origin gets lost in the deep waters of ignorance?

Kushtapur is one such place that faced the wrath of a Reservoir, which suppressed the habitat of a whole region rich of traditions and history dating back to the Ramayana. The village of Kushtapur was abandoned in 1965 due to the construction of Shree Ram Sagar Reservoir (along Godavari river). Around hundred such villages faced population dislocation, siltation, floods due to dam failure, future project expansion, economic and psychological effect etc.. But, SRSP project provides enough water facility to the whole of northern Telangana. Hence this project has success and failure on equal measures.

Due to the growth of water levels in SRSP and the need for local economy, Reservoir Fisheries was legalized in this region, but at the same time creating a social barrier between the farmers and fishermen. Local methods of aquaculture is practiced here, but due to the lack of control over fish growth, sustainable means of fishing is ignored and also the practice of farming is taken far away from these lands due to high siltation.

The essence of a village, the chaotic harmony around a temple needed it’s revival. Hence, the idea of manifesting the ethnic tradition along the Ramalingeshwara Temple (Sand Linga by Lord Ram) through means of local economy and giving back their livelihood to its people, solved the disbalance created by the present scenario of the reservoir. Thus, creating a stable Socio-Economic growth. The area of intervention was along the temple complex such that the institution would create a sense of belief about the temple giving back to the people, which inturn lets people give something back to the temple .

As the Temple followed the amphibious way of life(annual appearance), so was the idea to let the intervention follow the same, Amphibious Architecture. This allowed the structure to respect the region and be self-sustainable for its people. Materials like bamboo and wood, allowed this interpretation to take its foundation as a Floating village. Proportions and the idea of Gateways and Stambha were used to transit the temple into a design development methodology.

The temple was an offering to the Gods by the people, hence this project too is an offering not to the Gods, but for the people and the place, a Tarpan to Kushtapur, giving back its identity to the people.