MADURAI: The Lady Doak College in Madurai has thanked the Tamil Nadu Government for its efforts and announcement proclaiming Arittapatti village near Melur in Madurai district as a biodiversity heritage site of Tamil Nadu because the college has been a part of that significant achievement of Arittapatti, thanks to the village people, college faculty and students and all the government authorities involved in this heritage finding mission.
On November 22nd 2022, the Government of Tamil Nadu had announced Arittapatti as the first biodiversity heritage site of Tamil Nadu, as a part of the World Heritage Week celebrations. In a press release here today (on 25th November 2022), the Lady Doak College management has said that it is a proud moment for LDC for being an associate with Arittapatti, because the college has along association with Arittapatti, which is a historic and heritage site of Tamil Nadu.
“Our college departments took their students for on-the-spot study to understand the historicity, biodiversity and cultural heritage of Arittapatti village near Madurai. Observing the potential of the village, the Department of History of Lady Doak College had undertaken community-based participatory research in Arittapatti from 2015 to 2018 with collaborative support of DHAN (Development of Humane Action) Foundation, Madurai.
Totally 119 final year undergraduate history major students were involved in the research and study process and have done projects on tourism, birds, water resources, food, medicines. arts, monuments, temples and festivals, environmental protection, proverbs and women empowerment, the LDC press release added.
This research had strengthened the partnership between LDC and Arittapatti village. In April 2019, the department has published a documentary ‘Silamba Karangal’ in college website (of Lady Doak College) which was filmed at Arittapatti. After this,a project work was undertaken by an undergraduate student on the ancient historicity of Arittapatti village, after that a faculty had published an article on ‘Proverbs of Arittapatti and its Reflection on the Society’ in an international Tamil research journal in July 2022.
“The research process of Lady Doak College and its association with Arittapatti will continue in the future and forever. The college received a letter from the Forest Range Officer of Tamil Nadu Forest Department-Madurai in August 2022 requesting authenticated data for the proposal of Arittapatti to be declared as Biodiversity Heritage Site. The college felt honoured to submit the report of our research activities undertaken at Arittapatti village in Madurai distirct and sent the necessary data. On November 22nd 2022, the Government of Tamil Nadu announced Arittapatti as first biodiversity heritage site…..we are delighted,” the press release from LDC here today has said.
