In January this year, an Instagram reel of a rare 50-year-old picture of Laxmana’s wife, Urmila, went viral with over 3.2 million views. The photograph had been handed over to the team at Sampige Foundation that restores and/or discards old images of deities in a respectful manner.
Devotional management researcher, Sandeep Kempegowda was restoring the image. “The hand-drawn artwork of Urmila’s appearance in the Rama Pattabhisheka (Rama’s coronation) is rare It’s a gem because such depictions of Urmila are few in photos and artworks depicting the Rama Pattabhisheka scene,” says co-founder Vignesh M. Following the reel, the organisation’s MurthyShodhane initiative took off.
“Our aim is to respectfully dispose of these images through the flames of a shanti homa , while repurposing their frames with artwork by students of school and colleges,” he says of the initiative launched in partnership with zero-waste juice bar Eat Raja and community initiative Malleswaram Social. The team restores abandoned divine images and displays them in public spaces| Photo Credit:Special Arrangement Having conducted close to three phases of the drive, Vignesh, 26, explains how the team goes about executing the project. “We either restore abandoned divine images and display them in public spaces, or people leave such artefacts and photos that they possess for sustainable repurposing,” he says.
In the case of the latter, the team then separates the photos from their frames and co.