Bhopal, April 14: World's first Ramayan Kala Museum would be set up this year with the cooperation of Adivasi Lok Kala Evam Tulsi Sahitya Akademi .

Three years ago Culture Department had set up 'Saket' Ramayan Kala Museum at Orchha where crowns, masks, puppets used in staging of Ramlila and Chitra Phalak of pictorial presentation of Ramayan in different styles were displayed. This is first museum in the country in this field.

Extending this tradition, Ramayan Kala Museum will have vast collection of pictures based on Ramayan, arts, masks, traditional attires, crowns and musical instruments used in presentation of Ramlila and Ram Katha in Srilanka and various South-East Asian countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Burma etc.

Material for research would also be available at the museum since it would have a reference centre. This type of Ramayan Kala museum does not exist in India and South-East Asian countries. The reference centre to be set up there would facilitate researchers to assess Asian extension of Ramayan and its comparative study.

It may be mentioned that this year India's Ramayan traditions have been selected for study by UNESCO apart from documentation of various folk traditions of Ramlila.