Of a royal history museum - II
| Date :18-Jun-2020 |
Vijay Phanshikar :
One’s heart fills with gratitude towards the many persons who expressed solidarity with the idea of establishing a Royal History Museum in the city of Nagpur. Countless persons either called or messaged their willingness to come together to think about a possible museum to showcase the story of Nagpur’s two royal dynasties that ruled the region for well over two hundred years. This enthusiasm indicates that the feasibility of the project is quite strong. Unfortunately, most Nagpurians do not know those stories and anecdotes from the lives of the Gond and the Bhosle kings. Unfortunately, the Nagpurians never thought it wise to know those stories and then tell those to their succeeding generations.
Unfortunately, therefore, in most homes in the city, the inspiring and interesting anecdotes involving the Gond and Bhosle royals are never shared with youngsters. But if we start telling those stories with our youngsters, there will come about a great change in the young minds in favour of the personages that decorated the story of the city’s royals. For example, we have vague idea of who was Motiwale Appasaheb Bhosle and how he put up a brave fight against the British. We also know only vaguely about Rani Bakabai (Bhosle) and how she was said to have ditched her royal family to side with the British. But many of these anecdotes are in the category of hearsay. We also do not know how Raje Raghuji Bhosle ruled the region offering a good example of welfare state. We have only heard the name of Janoji Bhosle, but we do not know his military exploits.
We know so little about the Bhosle garrisons in places such as Bazargaon-Kondhali, Umrer, Paoni and many other places around Nagpur. We know nothing in detail about how the royals of Nagpur created a web of water-bodies that saved the region from drought for two centuries. And if we know so little about the Bhosle dynasty, we can imagine how ignorant we must be about the exploits of the Gond dynasty that ruled Nagpur before the Bhosle dynasty came into picture. Very few of us have even heard the name of Deogarh fort some distance from Nagpur, from where the Gond kings governed the area.
Of course, a lot of this material has been enshrined in books of history, but has remained away from public knowledge since the common people rarely access those books. But if a Royal History Museum is created in the city, it will attract people to its precincts and educate and entertainment them about the city’s history. Yes, Nagpur Central Museum does have some such material, but does not devote much space and attention to the city’s authentic history. This need can be fulfilled by a museum dedicated to the purpose. Let us not miss the point that such a project will not need much of money, and can be put together in just a few crores of rupees. And that sum would never be too far beyond the city’s reach. We can raise the fund and launch a project systematically. Once the project gets going, its activities can be organised in a dynamic manner to keep attracting common people. Many cities around the world have such museums, and Nagpur can join the league. Nagpur deserves it richly.