Electronic Visitor Guidance System at Mahabodhi Mahavihara

As a part of program to improve the facilities provided to foreign & domestic visitors to Mahabodhi Mahavihara in Bodhgaya, Mahabodhi Temple Management Committee has installed an Electronic Visitor Guidance System. This system is called H.A.R.K. (Handy Audio Reach kit).

The system is designed to help both guides and gurus leading large groups as well as individual visitors.

A key feature of this HARK system is availability of a voice transmitter for guides. This voice transmitter will allow tour guides/interpreters to transmit their voice clearly to every member of the entourage. The pilgrims/tourists in the entourage will be able to hear the guide’s voice on the headphones of their H.A.R.K. receiver. This way the guides will not have to strain themselves by speaking too loudly in order to reach every member of the group. This will also help maintain a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere in the temple complex. Further, the guides will not have to wait for every member of the group to congregate around him/her before he/she can start speaking. 

The system will help individual visitors by providing easy-to-access and authentic information about this important site and its history. The commentary is available in four languages (Hindi, English, Japanese and Korean).   

This system should also prove beneficial to the visually impaired and the illiterate who can hear the audio commentary being generated by the H.A.R.K. system but cannot read brochures/literature about the monument.

H.A.R.K. is entirely solid-state and there are no moving parts in the system. This makes the device inherently more reliable than similar tape–based systems currently in use at some monuments/ museums.

The hardware & software for this system has been developed indigenously for tourism applications by NIIT’s R&D wing – Centre for Research in Cognitive Systems and the system is marketed by ITDC.

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