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Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum

Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum is located in Pune in the state of Maharashtra in India. This museum houses an extensive collection of various items by Dr. Dinkar. G. Kelkar from the period between 1896 and 1990. The museum is dedicated to the memory of Kelkar’s only son Raja, who passed away in a tragic and untimely death. The museum is a three-storey structure and it contains several sculptures that date back to 14th century.

At this museum, one can also find several ornaments crafted from gold, silver and ivory. Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum is particularly known for its exotic collection of musical instruments as well as that of vessels and war weapons.

History

Dr. Dinkar Kelkar had started collecting various exhibits in 1920. He collected exhibits one by one and started categorizing them in different sections. Slowly, his collection of exhibits reached a staggering 15,000 which were highly attractive and by 1960, he had created a full-fledged collection of these various artifacts.

Dr. Kelkar was quite enthusiastic to showcase these interesting exhibits to all his friends as well as visitors. During the years, the collection became popular and a point of attraction for tourists visiting from different countries.

It was then easy for Dr. Kelkar to win confidence of the authorities of various local bodies as well as of the state government and various private bodies spread across India. They collaborated to help Dr. Kelkar to continue collecting the exhibits and motivated him to present his rare collection in a Regional Museum for the western part of the country.

Features

Apart from Dr. Kelkar, there are many luminaries, state authorities and institutions that have played in pivotal role in building this museum and cannot be feasibly listed down here.
Owing to the immense public appreciation, Dr. Kelkar took a landmark decision in 1963 to donate his rare collection to the Department of Archaeology, state government of Maharashtra to develop it further as a regional museum with enhanced maintenance and display of the various exhibits.
Mastani Mahal is one of the key attractions at this museum. This place is reminiscent of the heroic and romantic life of Bajirao Peshawa, who spent his life with his beloved wife Mastani.
The museum is particularly known for its exhibit of ivory objects. On the other end of the ground floor of this museum building, museum authorities have beautifully arranged some precious ivory objects like house-shrines, ink-pots, toilet utility objects as well as playing cards and games known as ‘Ganjeefa’.

On Exhibit

Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum houses more than 20,000 objects and 2,500 of these are on public display. The objects currently displayed mainly consist of Indian ornamental and decorative items belonging to daily life and many other art objects from the 18th as well 19th centuries. The stunning collection of this museum also portrays theastounding skills and crafts of ancient artisans and craftsmen belonging to that period.

There are musical instruments, vessels, door frames, ornaments, carvings and even the paintings are a proof of their outstanding work of art.

Other Recreations

Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum also has a new building where you can find the Vanita Kaksha. This is located on the ground floor of the building. Here, one gets a stunning portrayal of how a routine day begins in the life of an Indian woman. The everyday life of these women involves use of Vajris, i.e. mirrors, foot cleaners, combs, Kumkum caskets as well as collynium boxes.

A kitchen utensils gallery is found on the first floor of the building. Here, you can find a collection of big vessels used to cook food in large quantities served normally in marriage parties and festivals. You can also find huge liquid containers that were primarily used to store food grains. This gallery also houses the routinely used kitchen ware items featuring an artistic touch. You can find unique utensils, spice-boxes, vegetable-cutters made in a wide range of materials like stone, metal, wood, hide, terracotta, papier-mâché and ceramin. The wooden artifacts, noodle strands as well as the 16th century Kilns are also popular attractions here.