An invaluable collection of manuscripts and paintings from Tibet by scholar Rahul Sankrityayan has become a bone of contention between authorities at the Bihar Museum and scholars and family of the traveller-historian.
Though the authorities have decided to retain the ‘Rahul Collection’ within the old Patna Museum building instead of moving it to the swanky new Bihar Museum following objections by his family and eminent scholars, the latter are still not satisfied.
The Rahul Collection was a provisional gift made to Patna Museum by the late scholar commencing from 1933, and is the fruit of the four arduous journeys he made to Tibet in 1929, 1934, 1936 and 1938. Items were added to it until 1956. It contains Tibetan Thangka paintings, more than 1,600 Tibetan manuscripts, coins, ritual objects, images of bronze, unbaked clay and wood, items of jewellery, costumes as well as glass negatives of some rare palm leaf scriptures.
Sankrityayan’s family as well as eminent scholars are now demanding a physical and scientific cataloguing of the manuscripts and paintings. “At present, what is on display is a digital version of the manuscripts from the collection. We are not aware of the whereabouts of the originals. We appeal to the authorities to do a physical and scientific cataloguing of all the items in the presence of noted scholars and other stakeholders,” Jaya Sankrityayan, daughter of the scholar told The Hindu.
Officials at the Patna Museum, however, say that the collection of manuscripts and paintings are stored in safes in the Bihar Research Society building which exists within the premises of the Patna Museum.
“A decision has been taken not to shift this rare collection to the new Bihar Museum building,” Shankar Suman, a senior official at the Patna Museum told The Hindu.
According to Anjani Kumar Singh, Director-General of the Bihar Museum, a separate gallery is being made for the artefacts in the Patna Museum building and they will be displayed once that is complete.
The controversy over the Rahul Collection’s movement to the Bihar Museum began in 2015 when the swanky new building was opened for public and a decision was made to display artefacts from ancient India to 1764 in the Bihar Museum’s permanent gallery and those of the post-1764 period at the older Patna Museum. The two museums are also being connected by a tunnel being built by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation at an estimated cost of ₹532 crore.
While the 106-year-old iconic Patna Museum locally known as the Jadu Ghar had been under direct administration of the State, the Bihar Museum is governed by an autonomous body — the Bihar Museum Society which has been constituted under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. It has its own set of rules and regulations and the State government provides funds to it. It can generate its own funds and also arrange money from other agencies and has autonomy in functioning.
Earlier this year, on March 7, 2023, the State government through a Cabinet decision handed over the administration of the Patna Museum to the Bihar Museum Society as well.
Family and followers of Sankrityayan have objected to this. A group of eminent academics and public figures, including C.P. Sinha, former Director of the prestigious K.P. Jayaswal Research Institute, Patna, have written to the Prime Minister’s Office on November 25 demanding that the State government rescind the decision to hand over the Patna Museum to the Bihar Museum Society, stop the construction of the heritage tunnel, bring back artefacts moved to the new Bihar museum building, and keep the Rahul Collection under strict security.
