ABSTRACT
A discussion of storage in museums has to take into account cultural and temporal variations in perspectives and practices. There are contrasts between eighteenth and twenty-first century approaches, as well as between First World and Third World solutions. My essay discusses certain unusual storage practices in India, citing examples from small ‘local’ or ‘site’ museums in different parts of the country.
The history of the limestone sculptures from the Buddhist site of Amaravati in modern Andhra Pradesh shows remarkable variety in storage practices from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries, ranging from on-site storage to artefacts functioning as on-site props for religious ceremonials. The Maurya site of Kumrahar in Bihar gives evidence of storage of ancient architectural elements through burial. The display of medieval sculptures in the Mt. Abu museum in Rajasthan blurs the distinction between display and storage space. The Central Antiquities Collection in the Purana Qila in New Delhi provides an example of long-term storage of artefacts in historical monuments.
The essay also raises the issue of the relationship between the sacred, the visible and invisible, and the meaning of ‘storage’ and ‘display’ in the case of sacred artefacts such as Buddhist relics that were, in their original context, not meant to be seen. It urges us to move beyond the locale of the museum, and to think of the possibility of viewing the hinterland of a site as a kind of storage space. It draws attention to the tradition found all over north India of assembling ancient images found in and around the village in open-air or covered village shrines. In discussing such practices, the essay urges us to move beyond the conventional understandings of ‘storage’ and ‘display’.
