Sustainable Sanskriti

“Culture is not just to be conserved and preserved but also to be shared”. These impassioned words by O P Jain,President of the Sanskriti foundation on International Museums Day on May 18,served as a reminder of the importance of museums in our social lives. The occasion was the launch of the book,Sanskriti-Museum of Indian Textiles,by the Minister of Culture held at Sanskriti Kendra,Anandgram. The book is published in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Sanskriti foundation. It includes the museum’s collection of Indian textiles dated from the 19th century. Some of the best textile traditions such as double ikats of Patan in Gujarat,the single ikats from Andhra and Orissa,fine Muslins from Benares,Ahmedabad,Surat,Dhaka,Baluchar and temple hangings from Western India make this book vivid and sociologically memorable. Fabrics like brocade,crafts like gota work,kalamkaari and appliquéare are also included. The objective is to create an anthology for research. Professor Jyotindra Jain,an authority on Indian museums called it a fine example of a typological museums that house contemporary,everyday terracotta and textiles. India,despite its unique cultural history has not been able to keep up with other countries in preserving and displaying its cultural wealth and this became a critical point of discussion at the event. Secretary of Culture,Jawahar Sircar made announcements about the Tagore National Fellowship,through which scholars from all over the world are being invited to research on Indian museums.