Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (National ... - IGRMS

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Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya 285 Gallery 8 : Masks–Varieties of traditional masks collected from different parts of India are displayed. Gallery 9 : Textile & Culinary Traditions–traditional architecture, textile tradition, traditional technology and culinary traditions are displayed. Gallery 10 : Reserve Collection & Research Gallery–A representative collection of about 4,000 objects from the Museum’s artifacts store of over 20,000 objects (till 2008) are on display in a big hall on the lower ground floor. This is one of the few museums where a significant number of specimens from reserve collections is on display for informed visitors. An important aspect of these galleries are the active involvement of different community groups from different parts of the country in developing the exhibits, and its presentation in appropriate environment. Another special feature is the life size displays and visitor friendly approaches for visitors’ convenience. Museum Education and Salvage Activities The Museum began to organise different kinds of education programmes since 1985 onwards. Different Museum Education activities were designed to develop programme packages. These are in the form Travelling Exhibitions on different themes of traditional art and community knowledge systems; organizing ‘Do and Learn’ participatory training Programme for interested persons on various traditional art forms; Organising Seminars/ Camps and Workshops to disseminate information on bio-cultural evolution of mankind and celebrate the cultural diverisities and national integration. The first Travelling Exhibition-Yatra (The Journey of mankind) began its journey to Delhi in January, 1986, as part of the annual meet of the 73rd Session of Indian Science Congress. This exhibition was an attempt to present, in a miniature form, the bio-cultural evolution of mankind and the patterns of contemporary cultures in India in the form of a living-museum display. For example, a model of an Agaria hut was built and a few Agaria artisans from the remote Bastar area of Madhya Pradesh were invited to demonstrate their traditional skill of iron smelting practice. Science Congress specialists interacted with these tribal artisans and appreciated their technology. Construction of an exhibition-structure-Avritti Bhawan–for organizing periodical exhibitions was completed by early 1990, and the first periodical exhibition Vastu Prasang started at Shamla Hills in May 1990. The IGRMS hosted a series of periodical exhibitions, and national seminars in Bhopal. Paradigm Shift: Primacy to Communities and Museum as a Facilitator The structure and functions of the Museum began to take definite shape after it became an autonomous organization in the year 1985. Sachin Roy had envisaged
286 Multiple Heritage: Role of Specialised Museums in India in his concept paper (1972) that a full-fledged ‘Museum of Man’ should have major sections knitted together of geology, zoology, prehistory, physical anthropology, social and cultural anthropology, folk and tribal arts, human geography, economic and social development disciplines. ‘The concept, he said, ‘does not mean a multipurpose museum of the twenties (20 th century) which was a conglomeration of different departments, each opening its own separate shop under a single huge roof ’ (Roy: 1972, 27-28). The Plan-Outline on the National Museum Man (NMM), published by the Director, Anthropological Survey of India (1977) had demanded the need of setting up a new kind of museum with emphasis on putting objects in the living human context, and of portraying the general flow of life of the common people, shaped by socio-economic forces in the historical perspectives, apart from noting the high water marks of creativity in different historical periods. It also stressed the need to develop integrated vision of human life rather than segmented pictures, determined by artificial boundaries of different disciplines. In 1987, two years after the Museum was converted into an Autonomous Organisation, a Project Report was prepared during the tenure of R.S. Negi as Director, which listed a perspective plan of display in the indoor galleries and outdoor exhibitions, under three broad themes of human evolution, variation, and patterns of culture. It stressed inter-institutional collaboration, research and collection of objects from fast vanishing or changing communities. This Project Report and the perspective plan were discussed in the 4 th meeting of the Executive Council on 25 th July 1987 which resolved on a committee of experts to discuss and rewrite the Project Report. In a comment (1994) on the developments in the Museum from mid-1987 to 1993, it was pointed out by K. S. Singh, former Director-General of Anthropological Survey of India and National Museum of Man that, designed originally to explore the anthropological, biological, linguistic and cultural dimensions of all the people of India in a holistic manner, and the evolution of their civilization, the Museum was reduced to a tribal museum, stressing the tribal material only. However, it may be stated that the active involvement of the tribal communities in making the open-air exhibition on ‘Tribal Habitat’ certainly makes a departure from the traditional concept of museum and display. A further ‘conceptual approach’ was developed by a Programme Committee under the chairmanship of J. Swaminathan, then President, RMSS and presented in the 16 th meeting of the Executive Council (1992). This note questioned the conventional approach of ethnological museums, tied to only tribal and analogous cultures, and to the portrayal of remnants of such cultures with an underlying assumption that these were ‘dead’ or ‘dying’. It asked for a synchronic view of different cultures, with an accent of the temporal and spatial continuum of the world of culture. It also asked for depiction of man’s relationships with other human beings, with time and space, nature and culture, allowing for a to and fro
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Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (National ... - IGRMS

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