Musical Instruments Donated by Raja Sir Sourindro Mohun Tagore

by Shri Anup K. Matilal and Smt. Mita Chakrabarty

Price : Rs.150/-

The creative response of the 19th century Bengal to the

stimulus of western thought and culture has often been

compared to the Italian Renaissance. The magical

efflorescence of vernacular literature, arts and science in

myriad forms and glory and the appearance of a host of

remarkable individuals in different walks of life within the

short span of the century had given strength to this claim.

While most of these remarkable individuals came from the

educated middle class and made money in government

employ, some of them enjoyed independent means, the

source of which, however, was Zamindari property. All of

them had either a formal education in English medium or,

like Ramohun or Rabindranath, taught themselves - no less

well. Hailing from one great centre of Western education,

the Hindu College of Calcutta, most of them developed

certain tastes and affiliations which kept them firmly

anchored to a particular cultural ideal. That ideal was

neither Ciceronian humanitas, which inspired Petrarch, nor

classical Greek, which inspired the 15th and the 16

th century

humanists.

Raja Sir Sourindra Mohun Tagore, the greatest of

patrons of classical music that Bengal has produced within

historical times, was one such remarkable individual. A

direct descendent of Nilmoni Tagore, Sourindra Mohun

Tagore, whose learned investigations into the theory, and

efforts for the advancement of the art, of Hindoo music had

secured him a worldwide reputation and an unprecedented

number of honorary distinctions from the governments and

from learned societies of almost every civilised country,

was born in the year 1840 into the enlightened family of

Pathuriaghata Thakurbari. Hurro Coomar Tagore’s second

son, Sourindra Mohun Tagore entered the Hindoo College

at the age of nine, where he remained for nine years. While

still a schoolboy, he displayed unusual literary talent, and at

the age of fifteen wrote a concise outline of the history and

geography of Europe, which was published in the year 1857,

under the title of Bhugol o Itihas Ghatita Brittanto, while a

year later he produced an original drama in the vernacular,

entitled the Muktabali Natak, and sometime afterwards a

translation into Bengali of the Malabikagnimitra of

Kalidasa. At about the same age he commenced the study of

the art to which the greater part of his subsequent leisure

may be said to have been devoted, and after mastering its

elements, took lessons under the well known teachers Ustad

Lachmiprasad Misra, and Ustad Kshetra Mohan Goswami.

MASK in collection of the Indian Museum

by Dr. Mita Chakrabarty

Price : Rs.200/-

Thus, the making or working of a mask is

inextricably associated with the birth of ‘natyabhava’ as it

always enacts or represents a situation. This enactment of

situations, in the course of time, were transformed to

rituals. Apparently being merely an artifact, a static

object, the mask also speaks of the dynamics of the

human mind. There are areas where the mask still retains a

deep and at times even a complex meaning. There is an

old belief that evil spirits can be chased away once they

are made visible, which is done through masks. They are

also used to present animals and birds in the most vivid

and lively form. Masks are, however, used not only to

personify invisible spirits or supernatural beings but even

ordinary humans to accentuate certain characteristics in

the personality. This is noticeable in the usual Ramlila,

the chou dance-drama of seraikala, Bihar, the chou of

Purulia in West Bengal, the sahi jatra of Orissa,

krishnattam of Kerala and the bhand pather of Kashmir.

Even in plays where all characters do not wear masks,

certain characters do, like Ravana in Ramlila, Narasimha

in bhagwatmela and kuchipudi of Andhra. Here the

element to be emphasised is not terror but the power of

the cosmos.

The mask is also a work of art, a medium of artistic

expression of a mind or an individual. At the same time,

the form, the medium and the individual - all are attached

to a social process belonging to a tradition and it operates

within a particular narrative form - whether as a part of a

ritual, theatre or dance sequence - which is once again the

creation of the human mind. If we believe that the mask is

again the reflection of oneself, it can perhaps be said that

the artist analyses through the mask the levels of the

The Indian Museum 1814-1914 by Dr. Shyamalkanti Chakravarti

The book published in 1914 commemorating the first centenary of the Indian

Museum ran out of print for many years. An ever-increasing interest to know

about the origin, growth and development of the oldest museum of the country

prompted us to reprint the text with an updated account till 2nd February, 2004,

the 190th anniversary of the Museum.

Price : Rs.300/-

Kushana Coins of the Land of the five Rivers by Pro. B. N. Mukherjee

The land of the five rivers or the Punjab area of the Indian subcontinent, now

divided between the territories of the republics of India and Pakistan, has

played an important role in Indian history. It was once very much a part of

the Kushana empire, one of the greatest empires in ancient East. It was

situated between the eastern and western provinces of the Kushana domain

and was on the main routes from the west to the interior of the subcontinent.

Price : Rs.325/-

Abanindranath Tagore - his early work by Prof. Ramendranath

Chakravorty

I consider it a special privilege to be able to place before art-livers and

students of art these reproductions of Acharya Abanindranath Tagore’s

paintings and frescoes which are preserved in the gallery of the Indian

Museum, Calcutta. The existence of this collection has so far been known to a

limited circle of connoisseurs; now that a greater interest is being taken by our

countrymen in matters of art, it is hoped that this publication will induce a

larger number of art-lovers to view the original paintings, the delicate beauty

of which it is almost impossible to reproduce.

Price : Rs.190/-

The Indian Gold : An introduction to the cabinet of the gold coins in the

Indian Museum by Prof. B. N. Mukherjee

The present monograph is being published on the occasion of the 175th

anniversary of the foundation of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, with an aim to

make the interested public as well as scholars acquainted with the nature of

the content of its cabinet of gold coins. The publication consists of three parts,

viz. (i) an article summarising our knowledge about the gold coins of India,

(ii) a catalogue of select gold coins in the Indian Museum, and (iii) an album

of reproductions of important gold coins in the collection of the same

institution.

Price : Rs.200/-

Tribes of Ancient India by Smt. Mamata Choudhury

The present work is a thorough and systematic study about the tribal people

of India in connection with their geographical distribution, physical and

cultural characteristics. It deals with the definition, origin, nomenclature and

grouping of tribes, their geographical distribution in different historical

periods, their physical characteristics with a view to trace their ethnic

affiliation and their cultural characteristics in relation to the tribal language,

economic patter, social life and religious pursuits.

Price : Rs.250/-

Kushana Silver Coinage by Prof. B. N. Mukherjee

The importance of the Kushana empire in the history of the Orient is well-

known. The gold and copper coins of the Imperial Kushana form one of the

most varied and interesting series of Oriental coinage. It is striking to note

that though we know of a very large number of gold and copper coins of the

Kushana, silver pieces attributable to them are negligible in number. This

problem merits investigation, since silver is known to have been one of the

most widely used metals for minting coins in ancient period. The present

monograph aims at that investigation.

Price : Rs.200/-

Asokan Studies by Dr. D. C. Sircar

The present volume was intended to embody Dr. D. C. Sircar’s studies of

Asokan edicts published on different occasions, but suitably edited for it,

however, it has actually come to be a valuable Supplement to the

monumental work of E, Hultzsch, entitled Inscriptions of Asoka, 1925, in

which all the Brahmi and Kharosthi inscriptions of the Maurya king

discovered in the Indian sub-continent till then were ably edited.

Price : Rs.270/-

Ganadevata: Hundred Ganesa Icons from vasant Chowhudry in the

Collection of Indian Museum

This catalogue ‘Ganadevata: Hundred Ganesa Icons from vasant Chowhudry

in the Collection of Indian Museum’ has been prepared with the help of Shri

Gopi Nath Ghosh, Deputy Keeper (Prehistiry) an din-charge Archaeology

Section and Dr. Chhanda Mukherjee, Deputy Keeper (N&E) of the Indian

Museum. Shri Satyakam Sen, Senior Technical Assistant of the Archaeology

Section, Indian Museum has provided technical assistance in making this

catalogue. Price : Rs.250/-

Glimpses of Indian Culture - Ancient and Modern - By Dr. Pratap

Chandra Chunder

This valuable work, written by a noted Indologist Dr. Pratap Chandra

Chunder, is broadly divided into two parts. In the first part the author has

focussed on ancient India and the topics incorporated in the second part

are particularly on modern India. Collecting valuable materials from pre-

historic and historic periods, Dr. Chunder made a comparative study of

the ancient political systems for India and Iran. His comments on

different old Persian inscriptions are really fascinating. Dr. Chunder has

shown that the great Persian monarch Darius ‘was impartial and actuated

by a motive of general welfare’. Dr. Chunder also has thrown interesting

light on the common concept of divine order in ancient India and Iran. Dr.

Chunder stated that “in ancient India the term ‘common code of conduct’

implied a body of some ethical values and morally useful practices

without distinction as to race, class, colour or creed”. Price : Rs.280/-

Studies in The Aramaic Edicts of Asoka - By B. N. Mukherjee

Since the discovery of an Aramaic inscription at Taxila in 1914-15

scholars have gradually realised the importance of Asokan edicts and

Aramic as a complementary source of our knowledge of the history of

the Maurya age. To the same category of source one may attribute the

Greek inscriptions referring to Piodassess (i.e. the Maurya emperor

Priyadarsi Asoka), the first of which came to light in 1957.

Price : Rs.300/-

Remains of Bharhut Stupa in the Indian Museum - By Arabinda

Ghosh

The present work deals with the remains of the Railing (vedika) and

Gateway (torana) of the Bharthut Stupa which form one of the most

remarkable collections of the Indian Museum, Calcutta. It given a

general description of the remains as they stand in the Indian

Museum and also of their discovery at Bharhut by Sir Alexander

Cunningham during 1873-74. The main purpose of the book is to

describe and explain the reliefs carved on the Railing and Gateway.

This Part-I deals with the so-called ‘decorative reliefs’ and gives an

account of a number of such are motifs occurring on the monument

and tries to bring out their meaning and significance as well as the

reason of their occurrence on the Railing and Gateway.

Price : Rs.180/-

Money of the People - Some Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century

Token of India - By Roma Niogi

Prolific production of a class of silver and base metal religious token

popularly known as Ramatankas and also of those fabricated in Indo-

British coin-style is an interesting phenomenon of the eighteenth-

nineteenth century India. The result of a survey of such tokens

indicates that these had been occasionally forced by circumstances to

play a new tole in some spheres of economic activities within the

country as the money of the people. It is interesting to note that such

circumstance were mostly consequences of the commercial and

monetary policies of the merchant-rulers who had their headquarters at

the city of Calcutta which is now celebrating its tercentenary.

Price : Rs.185/-

The Arts and Crafts of Myanmar - the Indian Museum Collection - By

Asok K Bhattacharya

Myanmar, that is Burma before 1989, is known world wide as the ‘Land of

Pagodas’. For about a millennium the country’s dominating religion is

Buddhism, and the people are following a way of the life inspired by the

humanizing teachings of Gautama Buddha. Their arts and crafts, motivated

by the spirit of the same religion, bear certain characteristics which are

distinct from those of the other southeast Asian countries.

Price : Rs.700/-

The Way of the Buddha by Indian Museum

The Way of Buddha - an illustrated catalogue of the exhibits, rare and

unique in many respects that had accompanied an international

exhibition organised by the Indian Museum in the Fine Arts Museum

of Mongolia, Ullan Bataar, Mongalia in September 1993 and

subsequently in the National Museum of Singapore in November,

1993 has long been exhausted since its first publication. The

exhibition organised under a Memorandum of Understanding between

the Government of India and the Governments of Mongolia and

Singapore to promote the arts & culture among these countries had

won wide appreciation and thousands of people had visited it and

enjoyed it and rediscovered the age old historical connections that

existed among them from time immemorial.

The reprinted copy of the said catalogue will, we hope, satisfy the

academic need of the general public as well as scholars who have long

searched for it.

Price : Rs.250/-