Isha Gramotsavam
Isha Gramotsavam is a celebration of village life showcasing the essence of rural Tamil Nadu through an elaborate display of rural games, art, drama, dance, music and food specialties. The event highlights the role of sports in rural life by featuring the final rounds of a state-wide inter-village sports tournament. The festival is part of Action for Rural Rejuvenation (ARR), a rural revitalization program under the aegis of Isha Foundation. ARR provides a comprehensive approach to improved health, livelihood and community revitalization, and to date has reached over 4600 villages and forty-two lakh people.
The Live Event is completed
880 Teams
10,360 Players
1 Finale!
September 4, 2016
CODISSIA Grounds, CBE
The Isha Rejuvenation Cup
Following the Round 1 and 2 matches held around the state in the month of August 2016, the final eight winning teams faced off at the title matches held on September 4th at the Isha Gramotsavam finale.
Isha Rejuvenation Trophy – 2016
Volleyball & Throwball Results
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Volleyball Winner Vellore Throwball Winner Coimbatore |
Why Sport?
Sports empower individuals, transform communities and inspire populations for positive change. For Isha’s Action for Rural Rejuvenation, sport has been the key to inspiring exuberance and oneness in the rural villages. It has become a tool of transformation, weaning villagers away from addiction, breaking caste barriers within the community, bringing women out of the home and empowering them, and reviving spirit and pride in individuals and the village as a whole.
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From Teammates
to Friends |
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Today landlord and laborer play on the same team. Families that have feuded for years now cooperate to win. Friendships made on the court have lasted years – one group of girls who played as a team when they were 13 are now married and settled all over Tamil Nadu, but every year they come back to renew their friendships and play the game. |
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Three Generations
of Champions |
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Nagamani, now 75 years old, has been playing throwball for the past 12 years. She says her life began with throwball. Such has been her enthusiasm that now she has a daughter, daughter-in-law and granddaughter playing on the Kolapulur village team, which has been a 3-time winner and 3-time runner-up in Gramotsavams over the years. |
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A Village Inspired |
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Today, with a 30-member inter-caste community and a corpus of Rs. 1 lakh, Kaliyur village hosts its own tournament every year. Dedicated to Isha, the event brings in 60 teams to an all-day, all-night festival of sport every Makar Sankranti, where thousands of spectators from surrounding areas gather to cheer! |
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Only One Taker |
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In 2004, when Sadhguru invited the people of Anna Nagar for a yoga program, there was only one taker. Even when Sadhguru said, “If not yoga, how about just a game?” only a few showed interest. But that one man, Sellakumar, touched and inspired, was enough to cause a revolution. Being a man from the so-called higher classes, he faced social ridicule and near ostracism, but still chose to spend all his energies to bring his village together through sport. Because of his dedication, the games have now grabbed everyone’s attention! |
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Cricket commentator and journalist Harsha Bhogle said, “I am so happy that Sadhguruji is organizing this sport festival because there is something beautiful about sport. I have spent a lifetime watching and talking about it. There is certain purity in it. You enter a competition, you try your best, then you shake hands and go home. Everybody enjoys that they have given their best. There is one other thing about why in modern India we need to play sport. In the sport that I follow – Cricket – when the ball is coming at batsman. You don’t know what religion, caste, community or geography the bowler belongs to. They are just two individuals with certain skills. That’s what I enjoy most about sport because it has no boundary. It breaks boundaries. It is about one person’s skill against another. That’s why medals are fantastic. We love what Deepa, Sindhu and Sakshi have done. Everybody was blissful because there is so much joy, happiness and it brings everybody together. Sadhguru, I hope you continue with this – year after year and for decades let’s all play sport”
– Cricket commentator & journalist Harsha Bhogle
“Namaskaram, Vanakkam. This is Virender Sehwag. To all you wonderful people present in this Gramotsavam. Tamil Nadu has a special place in my heart as I scored my highest score of 319 in Chennai but all of you are giving me triple the joy by your spirit, involvement and passion. Sport is a wonderful medium to break all barriers and I am very delighted to see all of you breaking barriers of caste, religion, age to simply come together to play in this Gramotsavam. My heartfelt thanks to Sadhguruji, volunteers of Isha Foundation and most importantly, all of you for this superb festival called the Gramotsavam.”
– Virender Sehwag
“We have played only in our school days. This feels really good. My daughter says I am just waiting to go to the games. You won’t see this anywhere, people of all ages, from 15 to 65 years, we all play together.”
“The main pastime here was playing cards, smoking and drinking. After Isha came, nobody has these habits. From little children to the elderly, people go for work, do yoga, then play games.”
“Household women are rejuvenated. They have shed their submissiveness, they walk with their head upright, and have gained the confidence to go out and play. This is because of Action for Rural Rejuvenation. This is truly a rejuvenating movement.”
“People are playing without any caste-creed, rich-poor distinction. The employer and the employee play together, the land-owner and the laborer playing together. Truly speaking, these games have brought us together.”
“As we did things out of our enthusiasm, everybody cooperated with us.”
“We are confident of going anywhere and achieving anything. We are sure of our capability. It has created great enthusiasm.”
“In the villages, many of these games have been lost. Now, they are being revived by Isha and the people are enjoying them again.”
“Before, I didn’t know anything, even how to read or write. Only after Isha came, we took a six day class. It gave us confidence and we played. For two consecutive years we have won the trophy and this is our third. Its just so exciting.”
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