Satvik Vegan Society

International Vegan Festivals (IVFs) are a series of vegan festivals started in Denmark in 1981 by Ms. Kirsten Jungsberg.  It has travelled to all over the world and will come back to India again in 2021 after 2007.  A brief history of IVF is given below:

1st IVF - 1981, Denmark, Hadsund, Jul 12-19: organised by Kirsten Jungsberg

2nd IVF - 1985, Denmark, Klint, Aug 03-10: organised by Kirsten Jungsberg

3rd IVF - 1987, Germany, Bringhausen, Jul 16-23: organised by Hans Peter

4th IVF - 1989, Sweden, Norhem, Aug 07-13: organised by Vegan Society, Sweden

5th IVF - 1990, Holland, Het Kervel, Hengelo, Jul 21-28: organised by Cor Nouws and Dutch Vegan Society 

6th IVF - 1992, UK, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, Aug 01-08: organised by Barbara Gamsa-Jackson 

7th IVF - 1993, Spain, Tossa de Mar, Costa Brava, Barcelona, Jul 17-24: organised by Francisco Martin

8th IVF - 1995, USA, San Diego, California, Aug 06-13: organised by Julia Hope, American Vegan Society and VUNA

9th IVF - 1999, Australia, Hepburn Springs, Dec 25-Jan1: organised by Zalan Glen

10th IVF - 2006, Denmark, Diget, Skagen, Jul 30-Aug 05: organised by Kirsten Jungsberg.

11th IVF - 2007, India, Murdeshwar, Karnataka, Sep 30-Oct 06: organised by Shankar Narayan (Satvik Vegan Society, formerly Indian Vegan Society).  

12th IVF - Brazil, Rio De Janeiro, Jul 22-25: organised by Marly Winckler

13th IVF - 2011, Spain, Malaga, Jun 04-12: organised by Francesco Martin 

14th IVF - 2014, Bulgaria, Varna, Jun 01-08: organised by Lubomir Stoyanov and KJ

15th IVF - 2016, Austria, Klopein, Jun 05-12: organised by Salim and KJ 

16th IVF - 2021, Byndoor, India, to be organised by Shankar Narayan (Satvik Vegan Society) 

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 16th International Vegan Festival

Celebrate Righteouness

Byndoor-Shiroor-Murdeshwar, Karnataka, India

Organised by

Satvik Vegan Society

Email: indianvegansociety@rediffmail.com      Website: www.vgan.in

Contact: Shankar Narayan, Ph: 93411 28767

   This is the 5th International Vegan Festival organised by us - 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2021

                                                                                     Supported by: FIAPO

Venues:

1. RNS Residency, Murdeshwar, Uttara Kannada District, Karnataka

2. Wild Woods Spa, Shiroor, Udupi District, Karnataka

3. Sai Vishram Beach Resort, Byndoor, Udupi District, Karnataka

Murdeshwar

WildWoods Spa, Shiroor

Sai Vishram, Byndoor

 With Blessings from:

Sadguru Shri Narasimha Prabhu ji, Atmajyothi Satsang, Bangalore, India

Dr.G.G.Sabhahit, Idagunji, Honnavar, India

Spiritual Master Brahmarishi Mohanji, India

Friends of the Festival

Ms. Kirsten Jungsberg, Copenhagen, Denmark                            Dr.Will Tuttle, California, USA

Dr.Joanne Kong, Virginia, USA                                                    Ms.Ingrid Newkirk, Virginia, USA

Ms.Amala Akkineni, Hyderabad, India                           Dr.Shivanand Shetty, Mumbai, India

Dr.Achutan Eshwar, Bangalore, India                                 Mr.Kuntal Joisher, Mumbai, India

Dr.B.V.Udupa, Kundapur, India                      Dr.Varadarangan Krishnaingar, Bangalore, India

Mr.Praveen Kumar, Bangalore, India                                           Mr. Nitin Jain, Bangalore, India

Ms.Giselle Mehta, Mangalore, India                                           Ms.Erika Abrams, Udaipur, India

Mr.Ranjit Konkar, Ahmedabad, India                                     Dr.Vidya Chakravarthy, Pune, India

Mr.Gaurav Jain, New Delhi, India                                            Ms.Pooja Gupta, New Delhi, India

Mr.Sandeep Dangi, Surat, India                                                  Dr.Saravanan, Tamil Nadu, India

Mr.Anil Narang, New Delhi (New York), India           Dr.Vythilingam, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Dr.George Jacobs, Singapore                                                           Dr.Susianto Tseng, Indonesia

Mr. Christian Koeder, Germany                                                              Dr. Helga D’have, Belgium

Ms.Marie Oser, California, USA                                      Ms.Marly Winckler, Florianapolis, Brazil

Mr.Saurabh Dalal, Washington DC, USA                         Ms.Sandhya Prakash, Dubai, UAE

Mr.Philip Nicozisis, Florida, USA                                                 Ms.Vanessa Clarke, London, UK

Dr.C.K.Ashok Kumar, Chennai, India                               Mr.Mohan Santhanam, Chennai, India

Dr.Chinny Krishna, Chennai, India                     Mr.Narayana Swamy M.N, Bangalore, India

Mr.Jayaram H R, Bangalore, India                             Ms.Swatantra Kalra, Kodaikanal, India

Mr.Darryl D'Souza, Goa, India                                             Dr.Smitha Rao, Bangalore, India

Ms.Palak Mehta, Pune, India                                Mr.Pornthep Srinarula, Bangkok, Thailand

Ms.Mohana Gill, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia                    Ms.Varda Mehrotra, New Delhi, India

Mr.Kalyan Sarkar, India                                              Mr.Deepak Ashwani, Kapurthala, India

Mr.J.Muraleemohan Lal, Thiruananthapuram, India      Ms. Meenu Rampuria, Bikaner, India

Ms.Gauri Rokkam, Bangalore, India                                Mr.Satish Reddy, Hyderabad, India

Mr.Francisco Martin, Spain                                             Mr.Abhay Rangan, Bangalore, India

Mr.Nidhi Nahata, Bangalore, India                                          Dr.Neetu Jain, Bangalore, India

Dr.Mini Vasudevan, Coimbatore, India                               Mr.O.R.Prakash, Mangalore, India

Ms.Saroj Chaudhury, Mumbai, India               Mr.Suresh Prasad Sharma, Kathmandu, Nepal

Mr. Hiren Kara, Mumbai, India

Media Friends:

Ms.Sunita Raghu, Bangalore, India                        Ms.Urmi Bhattacharjee, Bangalore, India 

Mr.S Janardan S, Maravanthe, India                           Mr.Radhakrishna Bhat, Bhatkal, India

Organising Friends:

Mr. Srirama Chetan                   Mr.Jathindra                 Mr.Nalina Kumar Shetty     

Welcome

Satvik Vegan Society is pleased to welcome you to the 16^th International Vegan Festival  to be held at Byndoor, Karnataka, India.

Registration

Registration has not started.



Objective:

The objectives of organising this festival are two-fold:

a. To give the participants some good time in the company of like-minded people in a beautiful place.

b. To reach the general public with the message of compassion.

Why India:

India, the bed of ancient civilization, has been advocating and following a cruelty-free lifestyle for ages. But pressure on an expanding population to pursue material gain at the expense of morality and respect for life has brought mass exploitation and destruction of other beings for food and other benefits.  To arrest this trend, Indians need to be reminded about the ‘true vegetarianism’ or veganism, which provides the foundation for an ethical lifestyle whereby all beings can live in peace and harmony.

Why Byndoor, Shiroor, Murdeshwar:

Though this is one of the most underdeveloped parts of the region, it has clean and green environment, best of the communication networks, good weather without extreme conditions, good roads (NH 66) and a prominent railway stations. This area has some relatively clean beaches and the mountain (Western Ghats, one of the United Nations’ hotspots of bio-diversity) is just about 12km from the beach. It has, in the vicinity, some of the best hotels and resorts of the region. All our Vegan Festivals (except 1) were held in its vicinity and Satvik Vegan Society’s registered office is located here. In addition, this is the kind of place most vegan travellers would like to spend their leisure time in – rural India, real India.

Weather:

The month of August sees the most uniform weather with a maximum of 30 degree celcius and a minimum of 23 degree celcious. Being in the later part of monsoon, there could be some occasional rains.  During the festival, expect pleasant weather with occasional rains, flowing rivers, wet and green outdoors. 

How to Reach:

By Air: Fly to one of these airports: Mumbai, Bangalore, Hynderabad, Chennai, Mangalore or Goa and take a bus or train to the venues. Mangalore (IXE) is the nearest airport (130km from Byndoor) in the south and Goa (GOI) is the nearest airport (220km from Murdeshwar) in the north.  

By Train: Direct trains to Byndoor, Shiroor and Murdeshwar are available from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Mangalore and Margao (Goa).

By Bus: Direct luxury buses are available from Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Mangalore and Panaji and Margao (Goa).

Programs and Events:



Exhibitions:

There will be an Exposition of vegan businesses and services.  Interested businesses may write to indianvegansociety@rediffmail.com

Accommodation:

There will be a variety of accommodation options available for all budgets. Pre-festival and post-festival accommodations can also be booked.

Transportation:

Local transportation, pick-up from and drop to Bus Station, Railway Station, Mangalore airport and Goa Airport will be available.

Food:

Food provided during the Vegan Festival will be healthy vegan fares from all over the world, with special emphasis on a variety of Indian delicacies.

Participation:

People can participate in this 16^th International Vegan Festival as Speakers, Entertainers, Exhibitors, Participants or Volunteers. All those who want to be part of the festival need to register in advance.  

 Sponsors:

Sponsors will get wide publicity locally, nationally and internationally, before, during and after the 16^th International Vegan Festival. The sponsors need to accept the principles of veganism and should not in any way promote anything contradicting the values of veganism.  Sponsorship options are available for individuals or businesses or other organisations.

Participation:

A person, whether vegan or just a vegan enthusiast, who is willing to attend the festival is most welcome to register and attend the festival. 

All the details of participation will be in the registration form.  Please write to indianvegansociety@rediffmail.com for a registration form.

Venue: We will be having our festival in 3 venues:

1. RNS Residency, Murdeshwar.  This is a beautiful vegetarian only (no meat or egg served here) hotel with about 90 rooms. This was the venue of the 11th International Vegan Festival we had organised in 2007.

2.  Wildwoods Spa, Shiroor: This is a botanical garden more than a resort, on the banks of a river, perched in the foothills of the Western Ghats, a United Nations' bio-diversity hotspot. This resort is going to be a 100% vegan health retreat, with a new website, when it reopens after the lockdown.

3. Sai Vishram Beach Resort, Byndoor:  This is a  luxurious vegetarian beach resort on course to become one of the first vegan beach resorts in India.  We had visited this resort on one of the days of the 11th Intl Vegan Festival in 2007 and this was the venue of our annual vegan festival in 2008. 

Sponsorship Options:

Various sponsorship options are available.  Please write to indianvegansociety@rediffmail.com

Some glimpses of the 11th International Vegan Festival we had organised from Sep 30 to Oct 6, 2007 at Murdeshwar, Karnataka, India:

Watch video of the 11th International Vegan Festival organised by us from Sep 30 to Oct 6, 2007 at Murdeshwar, India.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5



11TH INTERNATIONAL VEGAN FESTIVAL REPORT

Sept. 30 to Oct. 6 2007 - Murdeshwar, Karnataka, India, organised by the Indian Vegan Society.

By Zalan Glen, Australia.

I am sitting on the bench in my hotel garden amongst the coconut palms, listening to the lap of the waves, gazing at an enormous statue of Shiva and the R.N.S. hotel complex where the 11th International Vegan Festival was held here at Murdeshwar, Karnataka, India.

It is now Monday, with the Festival having closed on Saturday. Most attendees have dispersed from whence they came, while a few post festival hangers-on, rest and relax after this intensive event.

Joyous, enriching, revitalizing, surprising, healing, unpredictable and informative; extremely useful in assisting the formative growth of the seeds of the Vegan way to the Indian people.

Our host was the Indian Vegan Society, with assistance from various vegan sympathizers, The Vegan Society UK and IVU. Society President, Shankar, with a handful of members, a massive will and determination, have during the last 12 months, re-introduced the message of compassion and non-violence to further the protection of all animals, culminating in this semi-formal IVF event.

Overseas country origins of participants included Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Iran, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, U.K. and U.S.A, We were all well versed in answering Indian inquiries, as nationhood is usually the first question we are asked as a traveller in India! "World citizen" is also a good response.

Drawing on local knowledge and cultural links, the organizers and we participants, walked a tightrope of vegan and vegetarian issues over the course of the 7 day festival. The twin strengths of vegan comradeship and graciousness were needed and shone through some quite challenging presentations and discussions, due to the enormous influence of dairy products and entrenchment as part of the Indian and particularly Hindu tradition.

Professional power point, in addition to impromptu speeches were given in a large auditorium. A brief summary of Program Content is shown elsewhere (below). A few mixed language presentations were in Karnataka as well as English, with a smattering of Sanskrit derivations. Various local dignitaries from health, education, religious and Government bodies had been invited to attend and speak, with the media well canvassed prior to the event.

The core group of some 25-30 overseas representatives was small by comparison with previous IVF events, and we provided the majority of the audience apart from a few occasions when joined by up to 100 or more local supporters of various religious and community leaders. A few stalls offered information and crafts, with an excellent sandal display from Chennai and some artworks.

The entertainment program was first class with traditional Indian music and dance presentations most days. Three half-day bus tours were to a nearby resort offering an opportunity for group sharing and relief from the organized program; the scenic Jog Falls; and on Friday, a wonderful chance to savior the hospitality of our Yoga teacher and his village members, who provided entertainment and a beautifully prepared lunch in an idyllic heritage building and plantation riverside setting.

A peace march was held on October 2, Ghandi's birthday which was also granted an International day of Peace by the U.N. Dressed in our vegan t-shirts and white caps, we offered vegan leaflets, good wishes and a placard parade as we walked the main road to Murdeshwar entrance gate, some 1.5 kms from the festival site. We were ably assisted by a contingent of local women in wonderfully colourful saris who joined the procession.

It appeared evident we were sited in a location where people quickly integrated change. The magnificence of Shiva was really in evidence as he worked his magic here. The compelling truth of the vegan path was assisted throughout, as was the genuine and generous spiritual openness of the Indian people whose personal growth and vision are readily expected and respected.

A number of attendees, both local and overseas, and invited dignitaries made public vows to make modifications to their personal lifestyle to adopt the vegan way. Of course these offered us a chance to provide rousing support, which really enhanced the sense of values we could perceive at this festival.

Most guests stayed at the Festival Venue and general consensus seems this was a good choice. The catering staff provided a level of quality and presentation well above that of the surrounding cuisine options, and managed to satisfy most people most of the time, enhancing potential for a vegan presence locally.

Further review of events and a swathe of pictures, proposed video and C.D.'s will follow. These few words express my personal observations and experience.

Excellent presentations by Brazil and Italy, who showcased their respective bids to sponsor a future IVF, gave exciting insights to the treasures which are available within the world vegan movement. The Turin Vegan Festival is already a well attended annual event.

The unique Brazilian experience offers a most powerful, timely and visionary opportunity to spread vegan awareness. With its readily identifiable, synchronous and convergent national issues, the insights of vegan awareness can greatly enhance the Vegan way on the World stage, with pragmatic and common sense strategies of healing and protection for people, animals and the environment.

Alternatives bids may still be canvassed, with an expectation that the Serena Coles committee will make some statement regarding the location of 12th IVF later this year. It will be very interesting to see the outcome of this process.

Summary

So as the emotions subside and the memories and mental activity take pride of place again, I am left to offer congratulations and friendship on my behalf, and I imagine that of all attendees, to the contributors for their wonderful efforts made and the selfless assistance towards making IVF 11 such a useful and provoking event.

For Shankar, his vision, generosity, charisma and enormous input far exceeds the lesser shortfalls he thought evident and subsequently acknowledged in his closing speech. That any of us as individuals can hope to achieve more than our best, and to achieve such a feat and juggling act as this Festival offered is to deny the realities of India and the extent of spirituality, humbleness and humility ever present in the psyche and actions of the Indian people themselves. I am proud to be a citizen in a world where such divine light shines, to have had the opportunity to realize this gem in Murdeshwar.

Love and Vegan Awareness to all, In Peace, Samana (October 9 2007)