RECENT TRIP TO INDIA

[VANDOO]

JUST GOT BACK FROM A TOUR TO PART OF INDIA, I MANAGED TO GO TO 2 MUSEUMS THAT HAVE WEAPONS ON DISPLAY BUT TOOK NO PICTURES AS MY CAMERA GAVE OUT ON ME EARLY ON.
1. THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, JANPATH, NEW DELHI INDIA, IT HAS A VARIETY OF WEAPONS ALL DISPLAYED IN A MORE MODERN MUSEUM STYLE. THERE IS NOT A LARGE QUANTITY BUT WHAT IS THERE IS GOOD QUALITY AND INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE EXAMPLES.

2. THE CITY PALACE MUSEUM, JAIPUR INDIA, THIS WAS MY FAVORITE OF THE TWO AS THERE ARE A VERY LARGE NUMBER OF WEAPONS DISPLAYED IN THE OLD MUSEUM STYLE WHERE ALL THE WALLS ARE COVERED AND ITEMS ARE ARRANGED IN PATTERNS. THERE IS NOT A LOT OF INFORMATION ON THE INDIVIDUAL WEAPONS BUT A GREATER VARIETY AND NUMBER OF WEAPONS ON DISPLAY. IT HAS THE LARGEST QUANITY AND VARIETY OF KATAR'S I HAVE SEEN.

I DID NOT SEE ANY OLD WEAPONS FOR SALE JUST A FEW POOR QUALITY TOURIST ITEMS AND A COUPLE OF NEWLY MADE DAGGERS THAT HAD NICE WORKMANSHIP. IT WAS MY FIRST TRIP TO INDIA AND WE VISITED A LOT OF NEAT FORTS SOME QUITE LARGE AND IMPRESSIVE, THE TAJ MAHAL AND THE NEARBY AGRA FORT ARE TRULEY MAGNIFICENT. INDIA IS A COUNTRY OF CONTRASTS FROM THE MAGNIFICENT TO THE MOST DEGRADED AND HORRIBLE. THE PEOPLE MOSTLY SEEM TO BE HAPPY AND THOSE WHO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY LIVE WELL ENOUGH. ITS MOSTLY IN THE CROWDED CITIES WHERE HUMANITY SUFFERS MOST. THE CRAFTSMEN AND ARTISANS DO EXCELLENT WORK I ESPECIALLY LIKED THE STONE CARVINGS IN SANDSTONE AND MARBLE AND THE STONE INLAY WORK. THE WOOD CARVING IS ALSO GOOD BUT THE TOP QUALITY PICES ARE SCARCE AND HIGH PRICED. A FUN AND INTERESTING JOURNEY BUT NOT FOR THE WEAK OF HEART.

[tribalarms]

Glad your tour was great. I also like the Jaipur museum display much, it is indeed very interesting. Unfortunately they now have a photo ban that they reinforce, so at my last visit I was not able to picture anything.

[VANDOO]

I AM GLAD SOMEONE ELSE HAS HAD A CHANCE TO SEE THE MUSEUM. I ENQUIRED IF THEY HAD ANY BOOKS ON THE WEAPONS BUT THEY DID NOT IN EITHER MUSEUM.
THERE APPEARED TO BE ENOUGH MATERIAL ON DISPLAY TO MAKE A NICE BOOK AND PERHAPS PRESERVE ANY INFORMATION THAT STILL REMAINS ON THE ITEMS IN THE COLLECTION BEFORE IT IS LOST. THAT WOULD BE A FUN PROJECT FOR SOMEONE WITH THE TIME AND KNOWLEGE IN THE FIELD BUT PROBABLY IMPOSSIBLE DUE TO THE BUREAUCRACY AND CORRUPTION. PERHAPS IT COULD BE DONE IN HOUSE BY THE MUSEUM STAFF WITH OUTSIDE HELP IF THE GOVERNMENT COULD BE KEPT OUT OF IT. I WONDER IF THERE ARE MANY FORUM MEMBERS IN INDIA, ARE YOU IN INDIA?
THERE ARE PROBABLY MANY COLLECTIONS AROUND THE COUNTRY I SAW A FEW WEAPONS IN THE VARIOUS FORTS AND CASTLES AND HOMES WE VISITED. MOST OF THE FAMILYS OF THE RAJAH'S HAVE NO POWER THESE DAYS BUT STILL OWN SOME OF THE ANCESTRIAL PROPERTYS SOME OF WHICH ARE BEING MADE INTO TOURIST HOTELS. I SAW A FEW OLD WEAPONS BEING USED AS DECORATIONS THERE AS WELL AS SOME FAMILY HEIRLOOMS STILL USED ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS.

[bhushan_lawate]

Hi all,

Glad to hear that you visited some really good museums..!!

there are many more with great variety of weapons and as you rightly pointed out there are many private collections.

G. N. Pant has made a catalogue of the following:
1. Armours in the National Museum Delhi.
2. Shields in the National Museum Dehli.
3. The catalogue of Edged Arms and Armour in Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad.
4. The Arms and Armour in the Bharat Kala Bhawan Delhi.
5. The Arms and Armour in the Durbar Hall Museum Junagadh.

For the benefit of member visiting India i'll list out a few museums that are a must watch for weapons.

1. Government Museum, Chennai. (Formerly known as Madras)
2. Chatrapati Shivaji Museum, Mumbai (Formerly the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay)
3. The Fatehsinh Museum (old Palace) Akkalkot, Maharashtra Karnataka border. (this is a not very well know museum but has an amazing collection of more than 4000 weapons of all kinds)
4. Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad. (great collection of all sorts for all tastes)
5. The Phalaknuma Palace Museum of Hyderabad.
6. The State Museum of Hyderabad.
7. Armories of Bikaner, Udaipur, Jaipur.
8. Junagadh Museum, Junagad Gujarat.
9. The Gol Gumbuz Museum, Bijapur, Karnataka (a small but nice collection especially for cannons)
10. The Parinda Fort, Karnataka (For mammoth Cannons and Cannon Balls only)
11. The BDL Museum, Mumbai (a very small but respectable collection)
12. The Mysore Palace Museum.
13. The Government Museum, Kolhapur, Maharashtra.
14. The New palace Museum, Kolhapur, Maharashtra (more than 4000 weapons)
15. Collection of ancestral hierlooms of the princes of Baroda, Gwalior, Tanjore, Mysore, Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Samode etc.
16. The Golden Temple Museum, Amritsar and the adjoining places of worship of Sikh Religion.

All these places are a great confluence of weapons belonging to the Indo Persian category and guns and cannons of various types.

Weapons are revered greatly by the warrior clans of Rajputs, Sikhs and Marathas and are still worshipped in traditional societies and are carried on ceremonial occassions.

Regards,
Bhushan

[Andrew]

Outstanding, Bhushan! Many thanks.

[dralin23]

hi Bhushan and all the others,
Bhushan, you write that some books was published from the indian museums, thats right, but only these two books from g.n. pant are realy good ( armours in the indian national museum and the book over indian shields) o.k. there are some mistakes in it, but these books are reference books ( an japanese kabuto helmet was in the one book as an european influenced indian helmet descr...) but the other books are not realy reference books. i own these books all, and i thought than i ordered these books in india, that i became some good museum catalogues but nothing. it was so disapoint. only very poor pictures some time only poor drawings and the descripions so short and unaccurat. i ask me why in the indian museums make such an great secret around theire collections( and this is not only an problem from the indian museums. in the others museum in the world is it also not so easy to find good exhibitions reference books over the indian ore persian collections)not one good collection catalogue is availlable for these many many intrested peoples in the world. how many people have not the chance to travel indian and to visit these great indian museums with theire phantastic collections. i would like write to the indian nationalmuseum than i hoped i can find some answers at some question because my indian weapons but you seasrch an email adress at the web site from these museum for nothing.
it is a great pity for all at the indian culture intrested people.

[VANDOO]

IT IS GOOD TO SEE WE HAVE SEVERAL MEMBERS IN INDIA AND THANKS FOR THE GREAT INFORMATION BHUSHAN. I HAVE NOT COLLECTED MUCH IN THE INDIO/PERSIAN WEAPONS BUT HAVE ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN THEM.
THE TWO AREAS OF THE WORLD WITH THE LARGEST NUMBER OF VARIATIONS IN WEAPONS ARE INDIA AND AREAS THAT ONCE WERE HINDU IN THE PAST AND AFRICA. I DON'T KNOW WHY THIS IS THE CASE IN EITHER REGION BUT AM GLAD IT HAS HAPPENED THAT WAY FOR WHATEVER REASONS. IN HINDU COUNTRYS IT WAS NOT UNUSUAL FOR SOME OF THE DIETYS TO HAVE NUMEROUS ARMS PERHAPS THEY NEEDED A DIFFERENT WEAPON FOR EACH ARM? JUST A WILD GUESS
I HAVE NO GUESSES AS TO WHY IT ALSO HAPPENED IN AFRICA

PERHAPS THE MEMBERS IN INDIA COULD GET TOGETHER AND SEE IF ANYONE HAS THE CONNECTIONS AND POWER TO ORGANIZE A TRAVELING EXHIBIT OR A EXIBIT LIKE ANTONIO DID IN MACAU. THIS COULD GENERATE INTREST AND PERHAPS A PROFIT AS WELL AS GET A BOOK MADE ON THE EXHIBIT. IF ONE OR TWO MUSEUMS COULD WORK TOGETHER AND DO THIS SUCESSFULLY PERHAPS OTHER MUSEUMS AND GROUPS COULD GET INVOLVED IN THE FUTURE. THE GAMES ARE COMMING UP IN INDIA SOON SO PERHAPS INTREST COULD BE ORGANIZED FOR A EXHIBIT THEN. IT WOULD TAKE A LOT OF WORK BUT PERHAPS IF THE RIGHT PERSON WAS IN CHARGE IT COULD BE DONE.

[bhushan_lawate]

Hi all,

I am in total agreement with most of the views expressed here and it pains me deeply to see the pathetic condition of the priceless exhibits and moreso the complete lax attitude of the (so called) caretaking authorities of the museums.

And to top it all there is no interest in cataloging the collection or allowing someone to do it. Having Videos and Photographs is a far cry away...!!!

But most museums in the world (except a few good ones)
suffer in more all less the same way owing to lack of visionaries or funds or knowledge of conservation techniques.

Me and a couple of friends do organise exhibitions of arms and armor but the effort is too small compared to the lack of awareness...!!!!!

All we can do is keep taking efforts and hope that the scene changes in times to come before it is too late...!!!!!!


Regards,
Bhushan

[sandeepsingh]

Nice, to hear from you Bhushan and All !