ILF places India's uncelebrated historical monuments on the online map

Consider this: Of the estimated seven lakh heritage structures in India, only 3,675 are administered by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Some among the rest come under state archaeological departments,  the Central Wakf Council and more. Many remain unprotected, neglected and encroached upon. This is why photographer Amit Pasricha’s effort to map these lesser known structures across the country through a mammoth crowd-sourced project is timely. Using location pins on mobile phones, volunteers on his project, India Lost and Found (ILF), are placing historical monuments across the country on an online map. Alongside, Pasricha is developing a compendium of crowd-sourced stories about these structures that touch upon different facets — art, history, culture, cuisine and more. “We hope to inspire people to visit and relate to these monuments before they’re lost forever,” says Pasricha. “Perhaps if we’re able to generate enough tourist interest, the communities living in the vicinity of these monuments will develop a stake in caring for them.” 

Chausath Harini Temple, Hirapur, Odisha | Photo: Amit Pasricha/India Lost and Found

The idea of India Lost and Found came to Pasricha when he went to Indore some years ago. “I had some time on my hands and thought of exploring old monuments,” he recalls. However, when he typed ‘heritage’ in Google Maps, he came up with hotels, schools, even shops, but no monuments. It made him wonder: How was it that Indians lived amid such monumental history but it rarely became part of their daily lives and discourse? It was this question that compelled him to turn from professional photography, to what may best be termed  photographical activism. 

Amit Pasricha | Photo courtesy: Amit Pasricha/India Lost and Found

“I decided to involve students and experts from different fields across the country to participate in creating a ‘virtual museum of thought’ around our untold monuments,” says he. “We are now mapping lesser known monuments using mobile phones, and bringing them back to life by viewing them through different lenses — culture, craft, folklore, mythology and even cuisine, among other things.” 

Dome of Safdurjung's Tomb | Photo: Amit pasricha/India Lost and Found

Today, ILF has got 200 colleges to participate in the heritage map challenge and a growing network of experts to tell their stories, including historian Swapna Liddle, culture and cuisine scholar Pushpesh Pant and craft doyenne Laila Tyabji. He has already received entries from over 1,000 sites across India. Pasricha is now thinking of creating a curriculum around this project. “Several colleges have expressed interest in this,” he says. “They like the idea of treating a monument as a symbol of its time, not just for its architectural merit.” He likes the idea of using specific questions as triggers that will make people view monuments in a new light. “Imagine if, for instance, in Delhi’s Lodi Garden, one ponders what the Lodis liked to wear or eat,” he says. “Or what their everyday lives were like.” At the end of the day, it’s the youth that Pasricha is keen to attract. This is why his project is on Instagram, where he has already uploaded over 790 photographs. 

The ambitious project is so far largely self-funded and self-motivated. “All content on the heritage map is free to use,” he says. “I hope it will enable more heritage walks and be used by tourist guides to make their tours more interesting!” Most of all, he hopes that the heritage map will be used by travellers, perhaps to find an India that is threatening to get lost in this rush towards modernity. 

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