MUSEUM AND ARCHAEOLOGY
- Bageshwar Jha
The All India Museums Annual Conference of the Museums Association of India was held in Kanchi Hotel, Egmore, Chennai on Jan.30 – Feb1, 2016, hosted by the Advance Research in Conservation, Heritage, Excavation, Museum and Inscriptions Society of Tamilnadu (ARCHEMIST) with Dr. Justice A.K.Rajan Former Judge, Madras High Court as the Chief Guest, Dr. K.N. Dixit, Jt. D.G. (R) as Guest of Honour and Dr. R. Naga swamy, Former Director, State Department of Archaeology, Tamilnadu who delivered keynote address. On this occasion Dr. T.S. Sridhar, a former bureaucrat and President, ARCHEMIST, Dr. P.K. Sharma and Dr. Anand Burdhan, President and Secy.respectively of the MAI, Dr. R. Thiyagarajan, HOD (Sanskrit, Presidency College Chennai, Dr. Lourduswamy, Superintending Archaeologist,ASI, Chennai and Dr. Vinod Daniel, Chairman, AusHeritage, Chennai were also present. About 70 delegates confabulated for two days on the stipulated theme: "Role of Archaeology in the development of Museum Movement in India"
At the outset Dr. Sridhar welcomed the delegates and wished that his ARCHEMIST, established in 2013, will look forward to a better cooperation with the MAI in locating, conserving and displaying our heritage items. After that Dr. Sharma and Dr. Burdhan apprised the audience of the activities of their Association in last one year. They revealed that only 32 members launched the MAI in 1943 which has gone upto over 700. Since then, by and large they have been able to hold the annual conferences and publish the journal regularly.
Dr. Justice A.K. Rajan, while inaugurating the conference recalled his long association with the Govt. Museum, Chennai since he was just a minor. He claimed to have seen several globally famous museums in other countries. He felt that a museum, besides its artefacts treasure, should have an attractive facade to draw the visitors and lamaented that the Govt. Museum, Channai has yet to cover a long distance in this respect. He claimed that Tamil, since 200 BC, after Sanskrit is the oldest Indian language and the museum should project this intangible heritage as well. Dr. K.N. Dixit, and Dr. Vinod Daniel also spoke on the same lines and emphasised the need of Indian museums having global outreach. Dr. Daniel argued that if the onion price rise could topple a govt.why there should not be the same commitment expressed when there is loss to a museum, whether natural or man-made.
There were two other important functions in this inaugural session. Like in the past, the MAI gave Life-Time Achievement Award to Dr. K.N.Dixit (above) and Dr. P. Iamperumal, Director, Tamilnadu Science and Technology Centre. The dignitaries on the dias also released the Journal of Indian Museums, 2015.
In the post-lunch period, there were two technical sessions. The first was presided over by Dr K.N. Dixit in which there were six presenters including Dr. Vinod Daniel (Trends in Museums: A Global Perspectie", Dr. Ambika Patel, Sayaji Maharaja University, Baroda (Archaeology in the making of Museums ... Perspective from Indian context), Ms. Saswati Choudhary, Archaeologal Depatt., New Delhi (Archaeology denotes authentic museum building), Dr. Indrani Bhattacharya, HOD, Museology Depatt, Calcutta University, Kolkata and Mrs. T.M.T. Pushpa of Govt Museum, Salem (Contribution of Archaeological Objects in the development of museums with reference to Salem Museum).
In the second session, with Dr, Supreo Chanda of Kolkata in the Chair, there were only two speakers, namely Prof. R. V. Ramana of Baroda and Ms. Falguni Pal a research fellow of Calcutta University. They all discussed points connected with their own museums. In the evening there was a colourful cultural programme in which Bharatnatyam, Kathak and Kuchipuri dance items were presented including one by a Chinese artist.
On the second day, Jan.31, the forenoon technical session was presided over by Bageshwar Jha, Curator, Sulabh International Museum of Toilets, New Delhi in which seven delegates including Dr. Anamika Kundu Saha of 24 Parganas, W.B. presented their papers. The afternoon session was chaired by Dr. Indrani Bhattacharya in which there wre as many as nine papers. After that, two representatives of the Pest Control of India (PCI) gave a special presentation on how to save artefacts from turmites and other harmful pests.
On the conclusion of the academic sessions, the MAI office bearers conducted the annual General Boidy meeting mainly because the biennial election was due. The Life Member delegates , as per rules, dropped four office bearers who were absent and elected their replacements. The GB, in view of the good work done by the present Exe. Com., decided to retain the present ones including me for another term of two years. For the Journal Dr Supreo Chanda of Kolkata was elected the Editor.
On Feb. 1,2016 the delegates were taken on a sight seeing tour to Dakshinchitra and Mahabalipuram, which was a pleasant experience for them. On return to the hotel, they gathered in the lobby and celebrated the 75th birthday of Bageshwar Jha which wa adjudged as s a nice gesture of the organisers.
- Bageshwar Jha
The All India Museums Annual Conference of the Museums Association of India was held in Kanchi Hotel, Egmore, Chennai on Jan.30 – Feb1, 2016, hosted by the Advance Research in Conservation, Heritage, Excavation, Museum and Inscriptions Society of Tamilnadu (ARCHEMIST) with Dr. Justice A.K.Rajan Former Judge, Madras High Court as the Chief Guest, Dr. K.N. Dixit, Jt. D.G. (R) as Guest of Honour and Dr. R. Naga swamy, Former Director, State Department of Archaeology, Tamilnadu who delivered keynote address. On this occasion Dr. T.S. Sridhar, a former bureaucrat and President, ARCHEMIST, Dr. P.K. Sharma and Dr. Anand Burdhan, President and Secy.respectively of the MAI, Dr. R. Thiyagarajan, HOD (Sanskrit, Presidency College Chennai, Dr. Lourduswamy, Superintending Archaeologist,ASI, Chennai and Dr. Vinod Daniel, Chairman, AusHeritage, Chennai were also present. About 70 delegates confabulated for two days on the stipulated theme: "Role of Archaeology in the development of Museum Movement in India"
At the outset Dr. Sridhar welcomed the delegates and wished that his ARCHEMIST, established in 2013, will look forward to a better cooperation with the MAI in locating, conserving and displaying our heritage items. After that Dr. Sharma and Dr. Burdhan apprised the audience of the activities of their Association in last one year. They revealed that only 32 members launched the MAI in 1943 which has gone upto over 700. Since then, by and large they have been able to hold the annual conferences and publish the journal regularly.
Dr. Justice A.K. Rajan, while inaugurating the conference recalled his long association with the Govt. Museum, Chennai since he was just a minor. He claimed to have seen several globally famous museums in other countries. He felt that a museum, besides its artefacts treasure, should have an attractive facade to draw the visitors and lamaented that the Govt. Museum, Channai has yet to cover a long distance in this respect. He claimed that Tamil, since 200 BC, after Sanskrit is the oldest Indian language and the museum should project this intangible heritage as well. Dr. K.N. Dixit, and Dr. Vinod Daniel also spoke on the same lines and emphasised the need of Indian museums having global outreach. Dr. Daniel argued that if the onion price rise could topple a govt.why there should not be the same commitment expressed when there is loss to a museum, whether natural or man-made.
There were two other important functions in this inaugural session. Like in the past, the MAI gave Life-Time Achievement Award to Dr. K.N.Dixit (above) and Dr. P. Iamperumal, Director, Tamilnadu Science and Technology Centre. The dignitaries on the dias also released the Journal of Indian Museums, 2015.
In the post-lunch period, there were two technical sessions. The first was presided over by Dr K.N. Dixit in which there were six presenters including Dr. Vinod Daniel (Trends in Museums: A Global Perspectie", Dr. Ambika Patel, Sayaji Maharaja University, Baroda (Archaeology in the making of Museums ... Perspective from Indian context), Ms. Saswati Choudhary, Archaeologal Depatt., New Delhi (Archaeology denotes authentic museum building), Dr. Indrani Bhattacharya, HOD, Museology Depatt, Calcutta University, Kolkata and Mrs. T.M.T. Pushpa of Govt Museum, Salem (Contribution of Archaeological Objects in the development of museums with reference to Salem Museum).
In the second session, with Dr, Supreo Chanda of Kolkata in the Chair, there were only two speakers, namely Prof. R. V. Ramana of Baroda and Ms. Falguni Pal a research fellow of Calcutta University. They all discussed points connected with their own museums. In the evening there was a colourful cultural programme in which Bharatnatyam, Kathak and Kuchipuri dance items were presented including one by a Chinese artist.
On the second day, Jan.31, the forenoon technical session was presided over by Bageshwar Jha, Curator, Sulabh International Museum of Toilets, New Delhi in which seven delegates including Dr. Anamika Kundu Saha of 24 Parganas, W.B. presented their papers. The afternoon session was chaired by Dr. Indrani Bhattacharya in which there wre as many as nine papers. After that, two representatives of the Pest Control of India (PCI) gave a special presentation on how to save artefacts from turmites and other harmful pests.
On the conclusion of the academic sessions, the MAI office bearers conducted the annual General Boidy meeting mainly because the biennial election was due. The Life Member delegates , as per rules, dropped four office bearers who were absent and elected their replacements. The GB, in view of the good work done by the present Exe. Com., decided to retain the present ones including me for another term of two years. For the Journal Dr Supreo Chanda of Kolkata was elected the Editor.
On Feb. 1,2016 the delegates were taken on a sight seeing tour to Dakshinchitra and Mahabalipuram, which was a pleasant experience for them. On return to the hotel, they gathered in the lobby and celebrated the 75th birthday of Bageshwar Jha which wa adjudged as s a nice gesture of the organisers.
No comments:
Post a Comment