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;
