Pandit and the Charles Correa Foundation have taken up the challenge to document and create a dialogue that can help preserve the 400-600 year old art form.

"Kaavi is the architectural art of etching on walls in religious as well as secular structures. The art is present in small pockets in both, north and south districts in Goa, but much more visible in the new conquest areas," Pandit said. "Besides being used to decorate walls, it is used to delineate a sacred space."

The foundation has identified and documented 21 temples and four houses in Goa that have Kaavi present on them.

Charles Correa Foundation has begun mapping and documenting known and existing Kaavi work. Similar to Sgraffito, which originated in Europe, Kaavi involves inlay or etching work done in contrasting colours and can be found on the walls of houses and within sacred spaces in the temples, churches and chapels of Goa, north Karnataka and Sawantwadi in Maharashtra. 

Initial studies have shown that there are no living artisans practicing Kaavi, which makes it all the more urgent to prevent the art from being lost to posterity, Pandit said. "It is not like it is completely lost to mankind. Kaavi is very much alive," she added.

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