Terracotta, stone and metal antique show at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture

A unique annual exhibition titled Terracotta, Stone and Metal Antiquities of Indian sub-continent was inaugurated at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture 

on Monday.

The month-long exhibition will remain open from 11 am to 1 pm and 2.30 pm to 6 pm except on Sundays and holidays. The exhibition was inaugurated by Swami Suhitananda, general secretary, Ramakrishna Math and Mission.

The unique feature of the exhibition is the Swami Madhavananda Memorial Collection. The main emphasis has been put on the archaeological heritage of the Indian sub-continent. 

The antiquities and works of art were collected by Pran Gopal Paul, a noted art historian. Now settled in Amsterdam, Paul, a former student of Ramakrishna Mission Students' Home at Belgharia has donated his collection to the RMIC.

Paul had traveled extensively from Taxila to Chandraketugarh in North 24 Parganas between 1950 and 2007 and collected numerous antiquities. He kept his collection in his North Kolkata residence. However, in 2008, he donated his collection to RMIC and this is for the first time when his collection will be showed to the public.

The exhibition has been categorised into two parts. The first deals with the terracotta art dating from 3rd century BCE to the 9-10 centuries CE and the second part deals with stone and metal antiquities and fragmentary parts ( stone panels) of stupa from 2-3rd centuries CE to 9-10 centuries CE.

Some of the important terracotta art that have been displayed in the exhibition are male and female figures, female torso, figure of goddesses, demonic figures, game objects, fragmentary parts of plaques etc.

The important collection comprising the second part includes stone Hindu deities of Kashmir valley, fragmentary parts (panels) of stupa in the Gandhara region and metal Buddha heads of the Gupta period.

As the artefacts have been displayed for the first time, they have evoked response from art critics and art lovers. It may be mentioned that RMIC has a nicely-designed museum and art gallery at Golpark.