THE Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) would soon embark on an expansion project of Rai Bahadur Dr Hiralal Archaeological Museum at university campus. With the expansion of the museum which is presently housed at the Post-Graduate Teaching Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture & Archaeology (AIHC&A), its entire reserve collection of artefacts, sculptures and other antiquities would be displayed for the students, researchers and public in general. The Maharashtra Government had already sanctioned Rs 3 crore for construction of a new building adjacent to the existing department and about Rs 2 crore for the museum infrastructure. The proposed two-storeyed building would be adjacent to the museum. Galleries would be on the ground floor wheres as the curator’s office and laboratory would be on the upper storeys. The plan, which is already readied, would be executed by the Public Works Department under the overall supervision of the varsity officials. The museum was established in1988 by the earnest efforts of late Dr Ajay Mitra Shastri, the then Professor & Head of the Nagpur University’s Post-Graduate Department of AIHC&A with the aim to set up a centre for Research and Documentation in Indological studies of this region. Rai Bahadur Dr Hiralal Archaeological Museum was inaugurated on October 1, 1992 by former Maharashtra Minister late Dr Shrikant Jichkar in presence of late Prof P L Bhandarkar, the then Vice-Chancellor, of Nagpur University.

 

In same year, all excavated antiquities, other sculptures and epigraphic remains were shifted to the present museum building. At present, selected cultural material unearthed from excavations or collected through explorations by the department, some other artefacts gifted or donated or loaned by or from other departments and agencies engaged in archaeological investigations are on display. The museum currently has Stone Age artefacts, Pre-Harappan, Harappan, Rural Chalcolithic, Early Iron Age (Megalithic) and Early historic material including pottery, stone and metal objects, coins, beads, sealings copper plate grants, sculptures and other objects neatly arranged and chronologically displayed. Many college and school students, teachers and researchers from various parts of India and other countries visit the Museum as tourists or for research purposes. The Post-Graduate Teaching Deparment of Ancient Indian History , Culture & Archaeology, established in 1955, has been contributing in the field of education, research, field work and extension services. Scholars of international fame like Dr R C Majumdar, Prof V V Mirashi, Prof Ajay Mitra Shastri and Prof S B Deo were associated with this Department.

 

The Department is conducting a post-graduate M A course of two years comprising four semesters having two option groups, viz A: Archaeology and B: Indology. Besides teaching, fieldwork in the form of archaeological explorations and excavations and educational tours are undertaken. Some extension work is also done to help the people in deciphering the text of their ancestral documents, supplying information about the antiquities, their conservation etc, and creating awareness regarding the cultural heritage by way of arranging walking tours etc. The department undertook excavations at several important sites, mainly in Vidarbha which had given important evidences, especially for regional history. Pauni was excavated in collaborations with the Excavation Branch- I, Nagpur of the Archaeological Survey of India. The study of temple architecture and art, like the temples of Markanda, Satgaon, Hemadpanti temples; topographical list of epigraphs from Maharashtra and Goa, etc were undertaken by the Department. A collaborative Project with the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi on the Multidisciplinary Documen-tation of ‘Rock Art and It’s Allied Subjects in Maharashtra and adjoining Areas’ and a few University Research Projects are going on.