Treasures from the Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum

Author(s): L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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INTRODUCTION
This brochure is to assist visitors during their visit to the galleries. It introduces them to various cultures and periods in art history spanning several centuries. It will broaden their perception of fine art and thus enhance the understanding of human creativity in its varied forms. Above all, it will help them appreciate the Museum as a source of learning and a place of aesthetic joy. Illustrations of twenty-two masterpieces will introduce the public to the content and calibre of the permanent collection of the Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum, a division of the L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad. The publication also serves discerning specialists, scholars, librarians and students of all levels as a tool and a visual reminder that this museum holds collections of great strength and of art historical importance. THE MUSEUM AS A SOURCE OF LEARNING AND
A PLACE OF ENJOYMENT The L.D. Institute of Indology at Ahmedabad in Gujarat and its new Museum are recognised leading repositories of Jain Art in general and Jain miniature paintings and manuscripts in particular. Since the inception of the Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum as a division of the L.D. Institute of Indology in 1984, there has been a steady increase in its collection through gifts. bequests, long term loans, purchases, etc. This has tended to cross the frontiers of Jain art and to give a much wider perspective through adding a variety of non-Jain objects. The credit for collecting and preserving the
antiquities goes to two outstanding personalities. The late Muni Sri Punyavijayji. a revered Jain muni, an outstanding scholar, a tireless researcher and a person of noble qualities; and Sri. Kasturbhai Lalbhai, a patron of art and learning and a devout Jain. The Muniji on his viharas went on collecting rare art pieces and manuscripts from remote villages and towns, where they lay unattended and neglected. He then stressed to Sri. Kasturbhai the need for a suitable institution where the collection could be properly housed for preservation and research. Sri. Kasturbhai responded by visualising and establishing the now renowned Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology to which Muniji entrusted the entire collection. This included a number of stone sculptures, metal images and artifacts, miscellaneous curios, a large number of illustrated manuscripts and specimens of excellent calligraphy, painted patas on cloth and paper and wooden objects which eventually found a suitable place in the Museum. The first notable addition of a valuable gift of non-Jain sculptures, Jain wood carvings, terracottas and a few textile pieces from the collection of the late Smt. Madhuri D. Desai of Bombay, enriched the quality and prestige of the contents and led the Governing Body of the L.D. Institute to form this new museum division to suitably house, and exhibit them. Thus the nucleus of the collection presented in the new building was formed and the two main galleries exhibiting sculptures and bronzes on the ground floor and paintings. manuscripts, painted patas, woodwork, coins, etc. on the first floor are named after Madhuri D. Desai and Muni Sri Punyavijayji, respectively.