New Delhi, Jul 5 (IANS): A five-foot long ivory tusk, dating to the early 20th century traces the story of Lord Buddha in 43 small roundels, with the one at the bottom depicting his birth place Kapilavastu and the one at the tip his three well-known postures, signifying his enlightenment. This is one of the 160 artefacts at the renovated Gallery of Decorative Arts in National Museum.
Dormant for seven years, the revamped gallery was inaugurated Friday by Culture Chandresh Kumari Katoch and opened for public viewing.
"I hope students from school and colleges will come to this gallery and cultivate an interest to know our rich history," Katoch said.
India's decorative art is dominated by "alamkara" or ornamentation and the artefacts on display were once used for daily, ceremonial and religious purpose. They have been crafted from a variety of materials like ivory, jade, ceramics, textile, wood, metal, glass, paper, leather and bones.
"Each medium is represented by a group of seven or eight showcases to portray the diverse nature of artefacts and high quality craftsmanship," National Museum director general V. Venu pointed out.
Gallery curator Anamika Pathak has meticulously classified the artefacts into three groups.
The ivory group highlights boxes, sandals, utilitarian artefacts and religious images. The jade section showcases utilitarian objects while glazed tiles, blue-white pottery and celadon items are in the ceramic group.
Besides the three groups, the artefacts are also divided into two themes: leisure or ancient games and throne story.
Representing the first theme is an ivory chessboard and chessmen from Gujarat, a jade 'gyan chaupar' dice board and gamesmen from Rajasthan and an interesting game called 'ganjifa'.
The term ganjifa comes from the Persian word "ganjifeh" and there is a popular belief that the game was brought to India by Babar, the founder of Mughal dynasty.
Evoking nostalgia is the ancient version of "snakes and ladders, an 84-squared gyan chaupar and gamesmen" made of cloth, ivory and paint.
"This is a rare piece that joins the dots with history. Knowing that they too used to play this game brings about a strange sense of nostalgia," Pathak told IANS.
The second theme "throne story" indicates the evolution of the seat of power. From the low flat seats of antiquity to the modern arm-chair, the section represents the grandeur of that era.
On the one hand, there is an intricately-carved brass throne of the 20th century and on the other, a 19th century silver chair with precious stones from Benaras.
Surprisingly, amidst all this are a few jade artefacts of the Ming dynasty. The Chinese are known for their love for jade and the intricately carved miniatures adorn one corner.
"They are rare. Hence they have a place here," said Venu.