NOW SHOWING: STORIES OF INDIA

From Sachin Tendulkar’s 100thcentury gloves to 300yearold ‘magic’ Himalayan daggers, check out the top treasures across the country’s newest museums and galleries

THE GUN THAT MADE BHAGAT SINGH A LEGEND

In December 1928, Bhagat Singh used this gun to shoot a British police officer, John Saunders, in Lahore. Saunders was not his intended victim. Singh wanted to kill the superintendent, James Scott, who ordered the lathi charge that killed Lala Lajpat Rai. Singh was tried and hanged for his crime, becoming a folk hero in death. His pistol was missing for years. It was taken to Punjab’s state firearms bureau in Phillaur, and moved in 1969 to the Border Security Force’s Small Arms Museum in Indore. It lay there, coated in rust-proof black paint, forgotten. Last year, BSF inspector general Pankaj Goomar matched the historic gun’s serial number to this semi-automatic .32-bore Colt pistol, solving the mystery.

See it here: The gun is part of a new display at the Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh Museum at Khatker Kalan in Punjab.

BRACELETS AND A KURTA FASTENER FROM 100 YEARS AGO

If these bracelets from the North-West Frontier Province and silver kurta button from Himachal Pradesh look familiar, it’s because much of today’s styles are rooted in old design traditions. But Rajiv Arora and Rajesh Ajmera, who own Amrapali Jewels, worry that local craftsmanship is disappearing. Their collection of jewellery, pieced together over 40 years, will soon fill a 6,500-sq-ft museum. The exhibits cover 500 years of design: silver spittoons and shoe covers; a bejewelled turban pin shaped like a bird; and a silver chariot.

See it here: The Amrapali Museum opens in the annex to the store’s Jaipur headquarters in June.

BISMILLAH KHAN’S ICONIC CAP AND SHEHNAI

It’s difficult to picture the master musician without these objects. When the maestro died in 2006, his instrument fell silent. But the Centre of Indian Music Experience is making sure it doesn’t disappear altogether. The objects form part of an exhibit on memorabilia from India’s music Bharat Ratnas – alongside Bhimsen Joshi’s shawl and paan box, Ravi Shankar’s sitar and one of MS Subbulakshmi’s signature Kanjeevaram saris. The rest of the museum is more about hearing than seeing. You can sit in an autorickshaw and listen to music on headphones or walk through the sound installations in the garden.

See it here: Bangalore’s Centre for Indian Music Experience (IME) opens in late 2017.

DIORAMAS FEATURING ICONIC FILM PAIRINGS

Before Raj met Simran, before Alia found the real student of the year, before we wondered if Deepika and Ranbir were faking their on-screen romance, celluloid couples were making Indian hearts beat faster. This display is one of many that charts the growth of Indian cinema. The upcoming museum is intended to get filmmakers, film students, enthusiasts and critics to understand cinema as a medium of artistic expression. Old cameras, post-production equipment, projectors and recordings are among the displays. Iconic costumes, photos and posters (including a hand-painted one for the 1957 film Mother India) will be exhibited. There are also plans for 40 interactive galleries devoted to cinema from across India.

See it here: The Museum of Indian Cinema is slated to open in Mumbai in the second half of 2017.

A 1,500-YEAR-OLD YAKSHI WHO GLOWS

For a one-armed woman with a chipped nose, this Yakshi sure is popular. It helps that the rest of her five-foot-two-inch frame is beautiful, and that she comes with a colourful history. Yakshis are the mythical attendees of Kubera, the Hindu god of wealth. This statue dates from the 1st or 2nd century BC. The statue was found jutting out of the muddy bank of the Ganga, near Patna, in 1917. But popular lore has it that dhobis had washed their clothes on its upturned base for years before a snake led local villagers to it. When the stone slab was yanked out of the bank to catch the snake, the artefact was revealed. The Yakshi, who used to be the star attraction at the Patna Museum, is famous for her delicate details and mirror-like polish. She’s travelled abroad, showing the world what constituted craftsmanship and beauty in ancient India.

See it here: The Bihar Museum’s Historical Art Gallery, which opens soon.

A MOTORISED MODEL OF SIKH EMPEROR RANJIT SINGH’S COURT

The sprawling Viraat-E-Khalsa museum of Sikh history uses realistic motorised puppets, gigantic murals, film projections and 3D paintings to tell its stories. This double panorama depicts the coronation of Ranjit Singh

(above) in 1801, a move that unified local clans and helped forge Sikh identity under what came to be called the Sikh Empire (1799-1849). Records of the time describe Singh’s court as lavish. The museum display is similarly breathtaking. The illuminated backdrop creates a film-set effect, while the panorama walls act as a screen – a horse moving on one wall disappears, only to seamlessly emerge on the other.

See it here: The Viraat-E-Khalsa Museum in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab.

THE GLOVES SACHIN TENDULKAR HAD ON WHEN HE SCORED HIS 100TH CENTURY

Sachin Tendulkar’s century at a Bangladesh stadium in March 2012 was no ordinary one. It marked the 100th time the batsman had scored a century in an international match – a first for any batsman. Sports writer Boria Majumdar, who persuaded Tendulkar to part with his gloves so they could be turned into a museum exhibit, recalls meeting Tendulkar at the end of the historic day. “I thanked God to start with, and said to myself that the wait was over. Without a doubt it has been the most difficult 100. There wasn’t a day… when I wasn’t reminded of it. I have no issues accepting that the pressure was getting to me. I am glad it is done finally,” Tendulkar said.

See it here: The gloves, along with sporting memorabilia are part of Boria Majumdar’s collection, housed in Kolkata’s Fanattic Sports Museum. It opened in January.

ART THAT DOUBLES AS A POSTCARD

When Mukul Dey sent his Bengal Art School teacher, Gaganendranath Tagore, a postcard in April 1915, it wasn’t to say ‘Wish you were here’. The student was honouring the school’s tradition of keeping in touch with instructors. He was also nodding to the future. The following year, Dey would accompany Rabindranath Tagore to Japan, to study print- making there. This postcard is from a set of about 40 sent by Bengal School students from 1913 to 1940. They’re peeks into the early works of some of India’s top artists. See it here: Ahmedabad’s Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum displays the personal collection of the Lalbhai industrialist family. It opened in January.

AN ORNAMENTAL COAT FOR A PARSI NAVJOTE

If this coat could tell a story, it would be one of a world that was connected long before globalisation. The material is velvet, a fabric that originated in Baghdad, but features a Western collar. The bird-andvine filled pattern is evocative of Kashmiri embroidery; the zardosi and sequins are typical of Surat; the crescents at the edges are auspicious symbols for Zoroastrians. It’s a small garment, meant for a Parsi boy’s Navjote, a ceremony in which a child who has completed seven years is initiated into the Zoroastrian religion. The coat has told its tale well beyond the museum’s borders – it was part of Libaas, a show of Indian costumes at the National Museum in Riyadh in 2002. It was also featured in Zoroastrian Tapestry, a lavish coffee-table book about Parsi dressing, in 2003.

See it here: At the Textiles Gallery, which opened at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj museum in Mumbai a year ago.

A REFUGEE CARD FROM 1947

After Partition, cards like this were one way of keeping track of the millions fleeing across the new border between India and Pakistan. As hordes wearily made their way to the camps in India, newly landless and jobless, a relief officer would record the number of men, women, and children in each family, so they could get the right food and clothing rations. This card states that Chuni Lal Bhatia’s family of seven moved from West Punjab to Dehradun and then to Kanpur, in 1949. It was donated to the museum by Bhatia’s grandson.

See it here: The Partition Museum in Amritsar opened late last year. Also on display here are letters, photos and videos recording the stories of the millions of people who either fled India or moved here from Pakistan.

300-YEAR-OLD MAGIC DAGGERS FROM TIBET

These bronze phurpas or ritual daggers don’t kill. But in Himalayan cultures, they are believed to help destroy obstacles. A phurpa, sometimes called a magic dagger, is a tantric object used in rituals to conquer evil spirits. This 18th-century one has three blades that signify the three virtues (charity, chastity and patience) that can destroy the three vices (hatred, lust and sloth).

See it here: The daggers are part of the Himalayan Art Gallery, which opened at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj museum in Mumbai a year ago. It also exhibits 16th-century bronze sculptures, a 17th-century bone apron worn by the lamas or spiritual leaders, and other works from Nepal and Tibet.