Welcome to the National database of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of India.

In fulfilment of its obligations under the UNESCO convention on ICH, a statute to which India is a signatory, the Ministry of Culture, Govt. Of India, has declared the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s apex body on culture, as the Nodal centre for coordinating India’s nominations for various lists and other actions such as developing and maintaining the National Inventory of ICH through the Ministry of Culture's letter no.2-21/2011-UNESCO cell dated 21 February, 2011.

The Sangeet Natak Akademi’s nomination as the ICH Nodal agency has been endorsed, as required by the Akademi’s constitution, by its duly constituted Executive Board and General Council. The Akademi is an autonomous body engaged in the work of preserving and promoting the traditional cultural heritage of India’s rich performing arts of classical dance, music, theatre, puppetry, crafts and folk arts and is represented on its General Council by India’s top cultural and artistic personalities.

As the first step in the making of a National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), this website offers collective ICH database of a variety of well-known institutions and organisations engaged in culture. The National database of Intangible Cultural Heritage also has a link to the current and ongoing nomination, documentation, attachments and audio-visual materials of each of the chosen elements in its entirety. Each element is supported by the requisite documents by the community engaged in the work of preservation and promotion of each. It is indeed the result of the participating bodies’ demand to be placed on the UNESCO Representative List. The respective ICH elements are also part of a larger database culled from regional institutions located all over India and are a product of the community's knowledge of their micro and macro profiles garnered over their intimate association with this knowledge gained over hundreds and even thousands of of years.