New Delhi, Sept. 9: Iconic Madhubani painter Ganga Devi's famed Kohbar Ghar or bridal nuptial chamber at the National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum here has been completely painted over.

The Kohbar Ghar room was painted with murals over three to four months in the 1980s, when Ganga Devi, who passed away in 1991, was undergoing chemotherapy in a Delhi hospital. It had images of marriage scenes from Hindu scriptures, including those of Lord Shiva.

The whitewash was done as a part of a renovation in progress for the last few months.

Senior officials of the textiles ministry, which is in charge of the museum, were not available for comment. An assistant director in the ministry claimed that the paintings had peeled off in parts and hence were painted over.

The museum has been without a director since April. The official claimed that junior officials present on the premises were unaware of the history of the work.

"We will ask her (Ganga Devi's) relative Shanti Devi, who has painted here earlier, to do another painting. Yeh utna serious damage nahi hai, the damage isn't very serious. No valuable items have been destroyed," the official said under cover of anonymity.

In a Facebook post, former museum director Jyotindra Jain said: "This was the only example of a complete iconographic rendering of Mithila's Kohbar Ghar and that too, painted in Ganga Devi's extraordinary personal idiom. I remember how - between her chemotherapy - Ganga Devi used to weep due to the painful treatment and had painted the chamber to occupy herself with something which she found creatively engaging... I feel so numbed and devastated, to say the least."

Eminent photographer and cultural activist Ram Rahman said artists were trying to gather information of the damage done, despite the silence of the ministry. "The government is dealing with issues like this so casually. We read in the papers that there is a larger plan to revamp all cultural institutions. But why this, why her? How could this agitate the government," he asked.