Bodh Kendra · Nature & Community Collective
A Shared Eco-System.Our Live Learning Lab.
Two Bodh Kendras run as integrated centres — learning and action, enterprise, archive and ecology under one roof.
From there we move to Community Bodh Kendras, built to be handed over to community members to run themselves.
- 2
- Bodh Kendras
- 2
- States
01What is a Bodh Kendra
Bodh Kendra: A Centre of Knowledge
Our Centres of Knowledge
‘Bodh’ means knowledge; ‘Kendra’ means centre. A Bodh Kendra is where both come together — a place to learn, make, archive and care for the ecology-education around it.
Our first Bodh Kendra came up in Odisha, before MTF was formally registered. It was a pilot, so we named it Pratiti — belief, conviction. It was created in collaboration with JCKTPIC.
Our second Bodh Kendra was set up in the Dooars region of West Bengal, named Terrain Vanabas.
Both run as shared ecosystems between JCKTPIC and MTF.
03Anatomy of a Bodh Kendra
What sits inside a Bodh Kendra.
A Bodh Kendra is assembled from units. Not every Kendra carries every unit — the mix follows what the landscape and the community can support.
Twelve units · JCK-TP-IC · Pratiti Bodh Kendra campus, Paralakhemundi
- 01S K Mirmira Memorial Clay Studio
- 02Acharya Nandalal Bose Craft Studio
- 03S R Ranganathan Memorial Community Knowledge Library
- 04Pandit Ravishankar Memorial Indigenous Music Ashrama
- 05Stockholm Papyrus Natural Tye Dye Studio
- 06Verrier Elwin Center for Social Studies
- 01S K Mirmira Memorial Clay Studio
- 02Acharya Nandalal Bose Craft Studio
- 03S R Ranganathan Memorial Community Knowledge Library
- 04Pandit Ravishankar Memorial Indigenous Music Ashrama
- 05Stockholm Papyrus Natural Tye Dye Studio
- 06Verrier Elwin Center for Social Studies
- 01S K Mirmira Memorial Clay Studio
- 02Acharya Nandalal Bose Craft Studio
- 03S R Ranganathan Memorial Community Knowledge Library
- 04Pandit Ravishankar Memorial Indigenous Music Ashrama
- 05Stockholm Papyrus Natural Tye Dye Studio
- 06Verrier Elwin Center for Social Studies
- 01S K Mirmira Memorial Clay Studio
- 02Acharya Nandalal Bose Craft Studio
- 03S R Ranganathan Memorial Community Knowledge Library
- 04Pandit Ravishankar Memorial Indigenous Music Ashrama
- 05Stockholm Papyrus Natural Tye Dye Studio
- 06Verrier Elwin Center for Social Studies
- 07Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Gram Swaraj Kendra
- 08Amarendra Ghatge Bee and Wax House
- 09Gangadhar Meher Textile Studio
- 10Kamala Pujari Center for Sustainable Agriculture
- 11V G Siddhartha Memorial Coffee Connect
- 12Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Peace Yard
- 07Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Gram Swaraj Kendra
- 08Amarendra Ghatge Bee and Wax House
- 09Gangadhar Meher Textile Studio
- 10Kamala Pujari Center for Sustainable Agriculture
- 11V G Siddhartha Memorial Coffee Connect
- 12Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Peace Yard
- 07Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Gram Swaraj Kendra
- 08Amarendra Ghatge Bee and Wax House
- 09Gangadhar Meher Textile Studio
- 10Kamala Pujari Center for Sustainable Agriculture
- 11V G Siddhartha Memorial Coffee Connect
- 12Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Peace Yard
- 07Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Gram Swaraj Kendra
- 08Amarendra Ghatge Bee and Wax House
- 09Gangadhar Meher Textile Studio
- 10Kamala Pujari Center for Sustainable Agriculture
- 11V G Siddhartha Memorial Coffee Connect
- 12Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Peace Yard
06Virtual Tour
Explore Bodh Kendra, Odisha
Take an interactive virtual walkthrough of Bodh Kendra and experience its learning spaces, campus and surroundings.
200+
3D objects
The Virtual Cultural Museum holds 200+ 3D models archiving tribal and rural material culture inside the Vana-Varsity archive.
07From model to ownership
Two model Kendras now. Community-driven Kendras next.
Where we are
The two existing Bodh Kendras are model facilities.
JCKTPIC shares its physical infrastructure, working enterprises, roastery, café and trained staff so MTF can run full-scale facilities without first building an institution from zero.
This allows training to sit inside a real business from day one.
Where we are going
Future Bodh Kendras will be community-driven.
Not MTF centres with community participation. Centres the community proposes, staffs, governs and owns.
MTF supplies method, curriculum, archive access and market linkage — not permanent management.
Model Kendra
MTF + JCKTPIC build and run it.
Shared Kendra
Community committee co-runs it. Community Teachers deliver training.
Community Kendra
Community proposes, governs and owns it. MTF supplies method, not staff.
Handover
Year 5 — the Kendra passes to the community.
Build → Prove → Share → Hand over
08The convergence point
Where all eight verticals meet the ground.
Every other vertical is a way of working. Bodh Kendra is the place the work happens.
- Skill
- The café where skill is trained.
- Agro-Ecology
- The seed store where knowledge is archived.
- Art-Craft & Culture
- The courtyard where craft is made and sold.
- Welfare
- The camp space where services reach households.
- Livelihood
- The kiosk and roastery where income is earned.
- Education
- The learning sessions run with Community Teachers.
- Research
- The documentation point that feeds Vana-Varsity.
- Bodh Kendra
- The ground all of it stands on.
Vana-Varsity holds what MTF knows. Bodh Kendra is where it is practised and given back.
Knowledge with an Address
- Build
- Prove
- Share
- Hand over