In this part, I will take you all through an interesting and sometimes scandulous part of the journey of a couple of artefacts housed in the National Museum.
Bharhut Stupa of Satna District, Madhya Pradesh :
Originally, there were a total of 3 major Buddhist Stupas in India. Sanchi Stupa, Bharhut Stupa in Madhya Pradesh and Amravati Stupa in Andhra Pradesh. The Sanchi Stupa is well preserved and is a major tourist and spiritual destination of Madhya Pradesh. There is no recorded or physical history related to the stupa of Amravati. However, relics related to the Bharhut Stupa. 2 of these relics are housed in the National Museum and rest of it are in the Allahabad Museum
This pillar belonged to the Shunga empire of 2nd Century, excavated near a farm in Karnal district of Haryana. In 1967, it was stolen brazenly from the Suraj Kund temple in a village in Haryana. Though they were recovered 3 months later, it was craftily stolen by a smuggler who created a replica and smuggled the original one to London. In 1976, the original pillars were returned to India by the Scotland Yard.
I hope you all are enjoying this informative series of exploring the National Museum in Delhi. Stay tuned for the next episode.
Dear @Ssiddharth2000 Thanks for sharing these incredible stories from the National Museum! It’s fascinating how those artifacts, like the Bharhut Stupa relics and that stolen pillar, carry such dramatic backstories. Learning about the brazen theft and recovery of that Shunga empire pillar makes you realize these aren’t just static displays; they’ve lived through their own historical sagas. It really adds another layer to their heritage, making you think about all the unseen journeys these ancient pieces have taken to finally rest behind glass.
It’s a grand museum and thousands of artefacts are on display including the rocks which contains the Ashoka’s inscription. I have visited six times but couldn’t understand the whole.
Very impressive post, congratulations.
Warm wishes,
Rizwan
Absolutely enjoying @Ssiddharth2000
I have previously seen these only in our history textbooks in high school.
It would be an amazing lifetime experience to see these marvels in the National Museum.
Your photos are fabulous.
Thank you @MathanVibranarayan brother for your appreciation. You are absolutely right. The feeling we get on hearing such incredible stories and to imagine the journey of the pillar from India to London then back to India is incredible. I’m glad you were able to resonate with my post as this is exactly what I wanted to share through it.
Thank you @rizbab28 for your appreciation. I completely agree with you it’s a very large museum and requires multiple visits to fully grasp the importance of all the artefacts.
Thank you so much @TusharSuradkar for your kind words. Yes it would certainly be a thrilling experience to actually visit the museum and see these artefacts come to life from our history books.
Hello dear friend, @Ssiddharth2000
I have read and commented on this post; unfortunately it is not visible now… sorry…
Ohh… great facts…
From where do you excavate these amazing history, dear friend…
Very interesting information…
Thanks for sharing these details…
Best wishes
I have this immense desire to uncover long forgotten history. A lot of artefacts housed in National Museum don’t expressly state these interesting details. During my recent visit, I came across two history honor students who shared a few interesting resources which they were referencing for studies where I can find more details about the artefacts. From there I was able to uncover this hidden story.
There are other such mysteries waiting to be uncovered. As a fellow museum explorer, I will share with you one such example below.
In the National Museum, as we enter and take a right turn towards the canteen area, we can find a few ancient pillars and doorways just lying on the garden, exposed to nature’s harshness. One of them is a beautifully crafted part of a pillar, shown below :
During my heritage trip to Agra last month, I visited the historical Fatehpur Sikri Fort complex, where in one of the palaces built by Akbar, I noticed this beautiful hall :
Please note the uncanny resemblance of the pillar in both the locations. It almost looks as if one part of the pillar was removed from Fatehpur Sikri Fort and kept here, in the gardens of National Museum. Yet, there are no details about this structure, which era it belonged to, who built it and how it found it’s way to the National Museum. I would love to uncover this mystery in the near future
Thank you once again @TravellerG sir, it’s so enlightening and enriching to share experiences with a fellow museum explorer.
