Rubon Saproo
SPS Museum is housed in a 18th century heritage building, built on the left bank of river Jhelum at Lal Mandi in Srinagar city, exhibits a fine collection of objects of historical importance. There is a rich collection of ancient coins, terracottas, paintings, textiles, old arms and armoury, stuffed birds and animals, manuscripts and decorative art items. The museum also houses beautiful stone sculptures and silver images of deities recovered from different sites in Kashmir. Most of the images belong to Hindu religion but those belonging to Buddhist faith are also good in number. The collection goes back to 2nd century AD to the 15th century AD and depicts different cultural developments of the state. A good collection of the jade as well as copper and brass handicrafts of Leh, Skardu and Tibet are worth seeing in the museum and add to its glory.
The history of the museum goes back to 18th century when on 3rd March, 1889 AD , the 2nd assistant to Rident captian S.H. Godfray and Raja Amar Singh submitted a proposal to Maharaja Pratap Singh regarding establishment of a museum in Srinagar to collect, preserve, conserve and exhibit antiquities of Jammu and Kashmir. The proposal was accepted with utmost esteem by Maharaja. He temporarily selected his summer resort building, built in 1872 AD on the left bank of river Jhelum, for the museum. The building still stands there and houses SPS museum. Initially, a small collection of objects were received by the museum through donations and by transfer from the state Toshkhana in Jammu and Srinagar. The museum was then opened in the year 1898 AD under the title ‘Sir Pratap Singh Museum Srinagar.’ It is also known as ‘Ajaib Ghar.’
The museum was very poor in collection till 1913 AD, but soon received a fillip due to efforts of archaeologist Daya Ram Sahni, who carried excavation at the ancient sites of Pandrenthan, Parihaspora and Avantipora and recovered some stone sculptures which form the prestigious collection of the museum. Mr. Roa Bahadur and Pt. Ram Chandra Kak, superintendent state archaeology department in 1921, also contributed much to the museum. The museum houses rich, rare and priceless collections but battles for protecting its antiquities due to various reasons. The single-storey museum building lacks space for displaying maximum objects. About 65% of objects had been stored due to inadequate space for their display where only 35% collections find place in the museum. With no electricity, the galleries of the museum are nothing but dark rooms. Apart from this problem, lack of proper maintenance could be easily seen as maximum objects of museum collection are in dilapidated conditions and bear dust. The museum lost completely one of its important gallery ‘children’s corner’ where ‘mineral gallery’ has been closed, painting section is locked and some other galleries are gradually fading.
Looking at the condition of the museum, the then chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad took an initiative to preserve this important treasure from decaying and started construction of new museum complex on modern lines in 2007. He had set a precondition that he would only lay foundation stone on completion of the building structure. The multi storey building came up in a record six months just adjacent to the site where the present museum stands now. Finally, Azad laid its foundation stone on March 20, 2008 and set one year deadline for its completion. However, the building is yet to made functional despite missing deadlines during past four years. This delay in completion has not only hampered the shifting of museum from old building to new one but also has made the museum’s betterment a pipe dream.
There are presently ten galleries in the SPS Museum which includes archaeology, painting, natural history, numismatic, manuscript, anthropology, textile, arms and armoury, decorative art and an open air archaeology gallery. The museum is not merely a showplace but also a centre of education. Scholars visit here to conduct research on living standards, culture, tradition and religion of various ruling dynasties. The museum is a vital link between the past and the present and a great source of inspiration for every visitor. However, the condition of the objects in the museum creates an impression on everyone’s mind regarding survival of this historical treasure. The precious collections of the museum are losing sheen due to dilapidated conditions of the galleries, lack of concern and proper maintenance.
Archaeology gallery
The archaeology section of the museum houses the most prestigious collection of our culture heritage. The objects kept in this section are complete and fragmentary stone sculptures, pottery and metallic objects, silver and clay images, terracotta tiles and bronzes.The section represents the collection recovered during excavation from sites like Hionar Ladoora(Phalgham), Hutmurah(Mattan), Bijbehara, Verinaga, Harwan, Pandrenthan, Gopkar, Soura, Ushkar, Parihaspora, Avantipora, Shopian and Khurhama. The collection is datable from 2nd century to 14th century.
The gallery displays rare collection of sculptures among which stone image of three headed Shiva seated cross legged where Ganga in swimming pose over his head, stone image of single headed- four armed Vishnu riding on Garuda with goddess Lakshami in his lap, standing stone image of goddess Indrani holding rosary lotus and weapon vajera in her hands, images of standing two armed Parvati and four armed Ganga in tribhanghe pose, stone image of Buddha in Dhyan-mudra, bronze image of Buddhisttava seated on lotus throne, brass image of seated Durga holding sun, moon, trident and vessel in her four arms, one brass frame with twenty three incarnations of Vishnu(one missing) and stone image of six armed Kartikeya with a peacock are worth seeing.
There are some other fascinating objects displayed in the gallery which includes stone images of goddess Indrani, Brama, Yaksha, Surya, Avalokitesvera, Shiva lingam,Ardeveshvare, Lakshmi-Narayan, goddess Kankali, Buddha, Bhairava, Chamunda, miniature temple of 9th century , fossil of elephant head more than 10,000 year old and earthen-ware. The terracotta tiles bearing Arabic script regarding digging of well at Shakergarh in 1965AD, Persian script regarding reconstruction of bridge at Banihal by King Jehangir, Sharda script about repairing of spring at Kuthair by Sultan Shab-ud-Din, votive stupa terracotta, tiles bearing hunting scenes and depicting fauna and flora of Kashmir, clay images and few tools are some note worthy collections in this gallery.
However, delay in completion of the new building has hampered their shifting. Sources said the invaluable artifacts are presently kept in a haphazard manner due to lack of proper space in Old Museum Building.
Natural history gallery
This gallery exhibits showcase of Indian wildlife. The section is found in total darkness without electricity and complete disarray. There are glass cases of stuffed birds and animals, eggs and insects. Bear, baby snow leopard, snow leopard, tiger ,tigress, marmot, Tibetan marmot, grey cat, ring tail, snow cat, king fox, golden fox, weasel, chimpanzee etc. are some animals on display. The gallery also exhibits different kinds of birds which included blue headed rock thrush, white throated laughing thrush, black & yellow gross beak, blue pigeon, golden oriole, Himalayan barbet, jungle crow, raven crow, rock crow, hawks, brown headed falcon, partridge, gadwall, mallard, jack snipe, wood owl, peacock, kingfisher, European roller, ram chakoor, four legged chicken, rat snake and pit viper. The bones and tusks of wholly mammoth dating back 10,000 years besides models of stag and shark are also found in this section.
Painting gallery
The painting section exhibits some beautiful paintings are presently kept in haphazard manner due to lack of proper space. The gallery which remains locked most of the time for no reason displays a unique set of exquisite paintings made in Rajasthani, Kangra , Basohli , Jammu, Kashmiri and Pehari styles. The section exhibits grand and simple portraits of Maharaja Ranbir Singh and his sons-Raja Sir Ram Singh and Raja Amar Singh besides General Boj Singh. The paintings displayed in this section depicting some scenes of the story of Krishna and Sudhama, Krishna and Radha, the marriage of Krishna, the Krishna cult, some Nayakas ladies at toilet etc. Another set of paintings show some Nayaka, Nayikas, Hindu goddess and Rasmanjiri series based on ‘ Bano Datta’s Rasmanjari of 14th century AD, a treatise on “Rasa” on the flavour of love and deals with Nayaka-Nayika bheda, the poetic themes of Ramayana and Bhagwat Gita etc. The portrait of Shah Hamdan Mosque of 19th century AD is also on display.
Works of art are often very fragile and have to be looked after carefully.curators need to monitor levels of humidity and light to ensure they do not damage the paintings.
Numismatic and manuscript gallery
The numismatics and manuscripts gallery together is housed in a small tedious room which hardly gets sunlight. A thick layer of dust settles on the display cases contains manuscript of many ancient books. The entire manuscript is in risk in case proper attention is not being paid to protect it. The gallery displayed a rarest document in Sharda and Persian script inscribed on brich bark (Burza) dated 1576AD. This is wasiqa-nama pertaining to the Zirat of Hazrat Mukhdoom Sahib. Persian script of Reshi Nama, Arabic script of 17th century holy Quaran, Persian script of kulyat Molvi Roomi, two volumes of Tafseer-E-Kabeer, in Arabic script of mughal period, Vidya Jeevan, 1538 Samvat in Sharda, Sharda script of 17 century Bhagwat Gita, Agni Stoot and Bal-Boodhni are some key manuscripts on display in the gallery. The section also houses a number of manuscripts donated by Raj Lakshmi Handoo which included a translated version of 18th century AD Bhagwat Gita by Syed Hassan Kashmiri. Besides it, a rarest document of mughal period is also on display wherein Shahjahan granting a land to widow in Kashmir. This section also forms the collection of silver and copper coins pertaining to Hindu, Moghul, Afghan, Sikh and Dogra period.
Anthropology gallery
This section is one of the most affected parts of the museum with majority of the collection in shambles. The gallery which is just like a dark cell displays material evidence to understand other societies in terms of their own cultural symbols and values. The section houses a beautiful white colour life size dummy of Raja Amar Singh besides busts of some mughal kings and queens which included Akbar, Shahjehan, Jehangeer, Mumtaz and Noor Jehan. There are dummies depicting life style of many communities. A dummy of a man showing smoking and another dummy of a kashmiri lady is shown churning milk. Yet another lady is husking paddy. There are models of men and women depicting traditional dress style of various communities. A Muslim bride and bridegroom, Kashmiri pandit woman, rajuput man of Jammu, yarkandi man and woman, tibetean man and woman etc are few charming models presently on display in the gallery. The section particularly helps to study of humans, past and present.
Textile gallery
The gallery contains specimen of cloth of various designs. There is a rich variety of shawls belonged to Afghan, Sikh and Dogra period. These are made of high quality fine and refined Pashmina wool. Shah Pasand Kani Shawls of Afghan and Sikh period, Rumal embroidery of Dogra period, Shah Pasand Doshala of 19th century AD, Shahtoosh shawl, Jamwar shawl of 18th century AD , antique carpets and embroidered cloth in fabulous combinations, designs and patterns have been preserved in this gallery. There are some shawls made so fine that these can pass through a ring. Amli Shawl with embroidered design of 1819-1856 AD map of Srinagar is one of the best collections in textile section of the museum. The collection actually belonged to a famous Kashmiri weaver Ghulam Ahmad Kaloo, commonly known as Ama Kaloo. It is really an artistic piece of work. .The gallery also exhibits some fine china silk cloth.
Arms and Armoury gallery
This gallery is housed in a very small room exhibiting armaments mostly belonged to the Dogra period. These arms have been kept in many wooden glass cases. Visitors can see different types of arms in the gallery like pistols, guns, rifles and cannons. Some rifles are very big about six feet in length. There are swords, shields and body protectors used by various kings in past.
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