Janapada Loka

Janapada Loka is a folk museum and cultural complex located on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway at Ramanagara, Karnataka. Founded by folklorist H. L. Nage Gowda to preserve Karnataka's rural heritage, it displays extensive collections of folk art, artifacts, instruments, and traditional crafts. The 15-acre campus includes open-air exhibits, reconstructed village houses, and galleries showcasing the state's folk traditions and rural life.

Visitors can explore a spacious 15-acre open-air campus with indoor museums and outdoor exhibits. Expect galleries displaying thousands of folk artifacts including agricultural tools, pottery, textiles, masks, puppets and musical instruments, plus reconstructed traditional village houses such as Doddamane, Loka Mahal museum and Chitrakuteera art gallery. The grounds feature sculptures, bullock carts, landscaped areas, an open-air theatre for folk performances, and handicraft shops offering a walk-through experience of Karnataka's rural and folk culture.

Janapada Loka was conceived by folk scholar H. L. Nage Gowda (1915-2005) to preserve and promote Karnataka's folk culture. He established the Janapada Loka Trust in 1979 and the museum complex was opened to the public in 1994 on land along the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway. It was developed as a dedicated centre to collect, document and display vanishing rural artifacts and traditions.

The complex serves as a major centre for Karnataka's folk heritage, preserving and showcasing rural crafts, folk music, dance, puppetry, painting and village lifestyle. It documents the traditions of diverse communities across the state and provides a platform for folk artists through exhibitions and performances at its open-air theatre.