The Indian Museum has taken out two of its antique Durga images from its store for display at an exhibition to celebrate the Unesco’s inscription of Durga Puja on its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The exhibition will be inaugurated at 3pm on Friday and will continue till the first week of January. Along with the sculptures, some form of intangible heritage associated with the Puja will be on display at the museum’s courtyard.
Of the images, one is a 12th century Mahishamardini from Hyderabad, made of black stone and donated to the museum by the Nizam of Hyderabad on August 12, 1910.
The other is a 19th century Dashabhuja image collected through Partha Bhattacharya, IPS, DIG, CID, on September 15, 1997.
A terracotta Durga idol donated by a puja organiser will be the third image on display.
The inner courtyard in the museum will be decorated like a Puja pandal and various forms of intangible heritage will be showcased.
On Friday, there will be a performance of dhol and patagaan by Manimala Chitrakar, a patua who will sing displaying his patachitra on Durga.
“Unesco’s tag of intangible cultural heritage to Durga Puja is a great piece of news. We are celebrating it by putting up an exhibition. The sculptures of Mahisasurmardini will be the exhibits of the month and the display of intangible heritage in the courtyard will be our way of paying homage to one of the greatest festivals of the city. It is not just a puja but also a huge socio-economic activity that provides livelihood to people and brings all sections of society together in a huge social event. It is much more than a puja,” said Arijit Dutta Choudhury, director, Indian Museum.
Museum officials plan to hold talks, workshops, story-telling sessions, Durga Chhau dance, alpana drawing and modelling of Durga idols as part of the exhibition.
