Asta Praharicha
An interactive digital mandala for a village 24-hour chanting festival, with eight themed watches and a memory gallery.
Problem
Living cultural traditions are usually documented as static pages, which cannot convey a festival structured across eight watches of a full day and night.
System
A Next.js application themes each of the eight watches with its own colors, copy, and atmosphere over an animated shader backdrop, with a slideshow gallery, moderated memory uploads, and a responsive watch selector.
Proof
- Runs as a public Next.js application with all eight watches playable and themed.
- Combines a shader-driven mandala backdrop, memory slideshow, and moderated upload flow.
- Responsive layout verified with a compact watch selector on mobile.
Architecture
- EnterA gate screen introduces the village and the festival.
- WatchEight watches switch themes, copy, and atmosphere.
- RememberThe slideshow gallery surfaces festival memories.
- ContributeVisitors upload memories through a moderated gallery flow.
Decisions
- Keep the interface Odia-first to match the tradition it documents.
- Theme each watch separately so the passage of the day is felt, not just listed.
- Use a single immersive page instead of a multi-route information site.
Tradeoffs and limitations
- Animation-heavy pages cost more on low-end devices and warrant reduced-motion fallbacks.
- Odia-first labels limit reach for visitors who cannot read the script.
Technologies
- Next.js
- TypeScript
- React
- Tailwind CSS
- GSAP
- Three.js