Revisiting Ancient India through Museum (Published) (original) (raw)

Abstract

Museum plays a significant role in representing the culture and heritage of a geographical region or country through various kind of displays for tangible objects and audiovisual effects for intangible subjects. The tangible form includes various kind of artefacts, monumental structures and their architecture etc. whereas the intangible form includes folklore, folksongs, folk-music, poems, rhymes, proverbs etc. Preserving and exhibiting all of them is one of the prime roles of a museum. While exhibiting the tangible and intangible subjects in galleries a museum also plays the role of an educatoreducating the general public about their glorious past, heritage they possess and the evolutionary development the society have made. A good fraction of this 'general public' visiting a museum is of students, who are the future of a country. Therefore, it becomes all the more important for a museum to play a responsible role in educating students especially in context of delivering updated genuine information about culture, heritage and history. The creation of first museum in India, dates back to 1814 A.D. when Indian Museum (formerly called Imperial Museum at Calcutta) came to existence in Kolkata. Since then, the journey of museums in India have witnessed a gradual development. Museums on various subjects and themes have emerged in every state of the country. Some of these museums are generalized, containing a variety of collection from various periods of the timeline while some are specific, specializing on a particular subject such as botanical or zoological museum of a region or place. In the context of history, the Indian museums are predominantly rich with a massive collection, from its medieval and modern times. As far as the collection from ancient times are concerned, they are mainly contributed by the archaeological excavations that have been conducted all across the country. Though these excavations and findings have provided ample evidences about India’s ancient times and glorious past, yet they have not been presented in the context of ‘Ancient India’. In addition, an effective representation of rich intangible resources of ancient India still needs recognition and respectable place in museum. Revisiting Ancient India through Museum is the focus area of this paper. This paper shall not only highlight the requirement for revisiting ancient India through museum, but shall also underline the untapped aspects of ancient Indian civilization which are worth mentioning to the museum visitors. The paper ends with a conclusive discussion about the advantages of such museum to the country.

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Key takeaways

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  1. Museums are essential for educating future generations about ancient India's culture and heritage.
  2. The first museum in India was established in 1814, marking the beginning of India's museum journey.
  3. A dedicated museum for ancient India can address the lack of emphasis on ancient history in education.
  4. Ancient artefacts from archaeological excavations must be effectively represented to preserve cultural identity.
  5. The deterioration of cultural knowledge threatens national identity and must be countered by educational initiatives.

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