From Temple to Museum: Colonial Collections and Uma Mahesvara Icons in the Middle Ganga Valley

Speaker: Dr. Salila Kulshreshtha, PhD in History from Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University and is currently based in Dubai. Her research interests include religious iconography, afterlives of shrines, colonial archaeology and the making of museums in South Asia. Her book, From Temple to Museum will be published by Routledge shortly

 

Chairperson: Prof  Anjana Sharma, Delhi University

 

The talk will focus on the creation of regional identities and the politics of heritage making through the use of visual cultures and museum spaces; how the establishment of museums in Bihar in the early 20th century, such as the Patna Museum and the Nalanda Museum through their collection, cataloguing and display of sacred sculptures attempted to create a particular heritage; a Buddhist heritage for the state of Bihar which continues to define the region to the present day