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Saturday, June 15, 2019

Acharya Jogesh Chandra Purakriti Bhawan, Bishnupur, West Bengal

Acharya Jogesh Chandra Purakriti Bhawan, Bishnupur, West Bengal
Acharya Jogesh Chandra Purakriti Bhawan is a museum, located in Bishnupur Town in Bankura District of West Bengal State, India. This Museum houses Mesolithic & Paleolithic tools, metal ornaments, terracotta sculptures coins and artifacts from the very ancient days of rulers in Bishnupur, starting from the Gupta kings to the Pala kingdom. Also, there are contemporary art and paintings, manuscripts and rare photographs. A section of the Purakriti Bhawan is dedicated to the musical culture of Bishnupur Gharana and has many instruments and photographs displayed. This Purakriti Bhawan remains open on Saturdays and Sundays for the tourists. The Museum is located at about 2 Kms from Bishnupur Bus Stand, 4.5 Kms from Bishnupur Junction Railway Station and 2.5 Kms from Bishnupur New Bus Stand.

History
The Bankura District Museum or the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Purakriti Bhavan was inaugurated in 1951. It was much later, around 1970, that the museum was inaugurated and opened to the public. It is now under the control of the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Ministry of Information and Culture, Government of West Bengal. The museum was started by a group of people with limited knowledge of museum practices.  

The Museum
This museum preserves the traditions of terracotta and other indigenous art forms in Bankura. It is a double-storied, yellow building with three main galleries: on sculpture, music and terracotta. The first two galleries are spread over a large area on the ground floor while the terracotta gallery is on the first floor. In addition, as part of the terracotta gallery is a gallery showcasing rare photographs of Sree Sarada Devi, wife of Sri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa who was born in this district. A proposed anthropology gallery would make the fifth gallery. A decorative terracotta boat replica welcomes all visitors to the museum.

The museum is encircled by a small but well-manicured garden. The main building of the museum houses a number of sculptures, manuscripts and patachitras. All objects displayed in the museum carry bi-lingual labels identifying them. Behind each object in the museum is a fascinating story about its discovery and its place in the museum. Most of these objects are found accidently by local people, while a few have been donated from personal collections.

The first object that one encounters in the sculpture gallery is a large white marble Ganesha. The sculpture gallery displays objects both from the past and present. The arrangement of the objects does not follow any specific scheme. They are arranged neither region-wise nor chronologically. This often confuses the visitors. The museum has a large collection of Jain Tirthankara images. Most of them were discovered in southern Bengal and belong to the medieval period. They are mostly carved in black stone and are intricate works of art. They are displayed on wooden pillars that are placed against the walls.

Amongst the objects displayed one can also see large blocks of laterite stone or grey granite inscribed in either Pali or Sanskrit. English and Bangla translations of the inscription are provided alongside the artefact. There are also a number of terracotta and stucco figurines. Two separate stairways will lead to the floor above. The artefacts here are arranged chronologically. The display here consists of tools and weapons from the Malla period, pots excavated from the region, Krishna idols and others. Krishna standing cross-legged playing a flute is the standard depiction of the deity to be seen here. Most of the icons are made of black stone.   

There is also a textile section on this floor. There are two large wooden cases that display numerous Baluchari sarees. A few of them are more than 100 years old. Baluchari is a local silk. The design on the pallu (or the loose end of the saree) is usually a scene from the ancient epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. The borders of the sarees also repeat the same pattern.

As far as the collection of ancient manuscripts is concerned, only the illustrated covers are extant. The remaining portion of the manuscripts no longer survive. The illustration on the manuscript covers have stylistic resemblances with Chaurapanchasika paintings. The manuscripts are mostly on palm leaves or thick coarse cloth and are painted with vegetable colours. The paintings mainly explore the theme of Krishna Lila.  

Next to the sculpture gallery is the music gallery. Bishnupur is also known for its contribution to Hindustani classical music. Bishnupur gharana has been popular from the times of the Malla kings. Ustad Bahadur Khan, Pandit Gadadhar Chakrabarti, Pandit Ramshankar Bhattacharya, Pandit Jadu Bhatta and several others are exponents of this gharana. The music gallery displays photographs of these maestros with a brief introduction. Sitars of various kinds along with many other string instruments are also on display.

The stairs on the way out lead one to the terracotta gallery located on the second floor. In the terracotta gallery one also finds a large number of dhokra objects made through the lost-wax process of casting iron. The tradition of making objects in terracotta and dhokra is widely practised in West Bengal and Odisha. This gallery aims to trace this tradition in southern West Bengal, especially in Bishnupur. Along with a few Malla-period artefacts like bells and highly sophisticated niches from religious shrines, there are also several contemporary terracotta objects, mostly decorative, like stylized horses or lamps. There are a couple of utilitarian objects like dish ware and storage containers.

One intriguing observation is the presence of horses as motifs in the designs on the decorative objects from Bishnupur. Interestingly, one also finds highly ornamental horses in the architectural scheme of the terracotta temple premises. The terracotta gallery also houses the photo gallery of the museum. The photo gallery is further divided in two sections, one with photographs of the various terracotta temples around Bishnupur and the other with those of Sarada Devi who was born in this district. The photo gallery of the museum displays images not only of the temples but also detailed views of decorative panels otherwise unclear to the naked eye when at the site.  

The other section of the photo gallery commemorates Sarada Devi who was born in 1853 in Jayrambati, Bishnupur. At the young age of five, she was married to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the 19th century mystic of Bengal. She became a prominent woman saint of the 19th century inspiring women of the future generation to take up monasticism. Today Sarada Devi is venerated as a divine figure. Though the images in this section are not arranged chronologically, they try to trace the journey of Sarada Devi as a religious figure. There are a couple of interesting photographs of Sarada Devi with Sister Nivedita. These photographs reflect the social conditions in the region at that time. There are photographs of young woman with children in a rural setting. These are rich photographic evidences of the social milieu during that time. The museum now attracts a lot of international tourists and researchers.

Museum Timings
The Museum remains open from 11.00 AM in the mornings to 06.00 PM in the evenings.
Entry Tickets
Entry ticket is priced at Rs 5 per person. Photography is prohibited inside the museum. 
Connectivity
For brief details, please refer below link;

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