Exhibition of centuries old rare Miniature Paintings at Vadodara Museum

Aastha Mishra

Vadodara: The Baroda Museum & Art Gallery has organized a 10-day long exhibition of miniature paintings on the theme of sustainability and the Ecosystem to mark the International Musem Day. The exhibition was inaugurated on May 18th and it will continue for ten days. A total of 74 Miniature paintings from 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries are exhibitted in this display with a motive to make people aware of the roots from where they continued to progress.

There different kinds of miniatures exhibitted include Maratha, Mughal, Deccan, Rajasthani, and Rajput miniatures from different schools of painting which were Rajput (Ambar) school, Oudh school, and Maratha school. There are also miniatures with very detailed and inscribed work some depicting stories of gods and goddesses, some narrating the story of the Avatar of lord Vishnu, and some illustrating shrimad Bhagwat Geeta. Another gem in the display is Adhivipa cosmographical map of the universe according to Jain canon. Miniatures presenting different Raginis comprised of Bhopal, Desaversti, Deshakha, Patamanjari, Malasri (Gujarini) and Mallarika (patmanjari) are also in display in this exhibition.

Speaking to DeshGujarat, Kiran Variya, the curator of this museum said – “all paintings exhibitted here are in-house assets that are displayed for public only on some special occasions.”

During the interaction Variya also spoke about Museum’s plan to put a QR Code audio guide system at the cost of Rs. 10 lakhs in near future. Variya also shared Museum’s plan to host a lesser show of 21 minutes length, showcasing the heritage of Baroda, the city which is fondly called the Cultural Capital of Gujarat.