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Shri Bhavani Museum located in Aundh, 48 Kms. from
Satara, is perhaps the only museum in the
country that has the largest individual collection in the world to have a
mix of 500 miniature paintings of all major schools -Jaiput, Kangra,
Mughal, Punjab, Bijapur, Pahadi and Maratha schools-of the period between
the 15th and the 19th century.
The Raja of Aundh, the late Bhawanrao Pantpratinidhi in 1938, built the
Museum. It is now being looked after by the State Government and is the
only museum out of the 13 state museums in Maharashtra, which is housed in
a building that was constructed for the purpose of displaying art, and not
in a palace.
The museum's inconvenient location, atop a 100m high hill
at the end of a motorable road inaccessible by public transport has been
responsible for it's fading away from the public eye. Yet, the museum
records show that about 100 persons visit the museum every day, mostly
rural folk from the neighborhood.
For the rest of the world Shri Bhavani museum remains undiscovered. It is
said that the hilltop that keeps people away from the sight of art was, in
fact, deliberately chosen by Bhawanrao so that the dust in Aundh and smoke
from the village would not affect the preservation of his paintings.
The great collection that the museum exhibits is actually
the life's work of Bhawanrao, who during the first four decades of this
century spent his time and fortune picking up these masterpieces. The 12
display rooms inside have glass panes on the ceilings for enough sunlight
to flow in. Shri Bhavani museum carries a special section devoted entirely
to paintings by Bhawanrao himself. And his family carried forward the
tradition.
The museum has a big department of stone created structures including the
famous 'Mother and Child' by Henry Moore. Moore's creation was last seen
in Delhi nearly 10 years ago when the British Council organised an
exhibition of Moore's sculptures. At the time, the Mother and Child
sculpture, which was listed in Moore's list as having been sold to the
Raja of Aundh, was transported to Delhi. The estimated value was then put
at 1.25 lakh and the insurance charges for transportation from Aundh to
Delhi and back was a whopping 85,000. The overawed caretakers as well as
the descendants of the princely family realised its importance and quickly
tucked it away to utmost safety-the strong room.
The museum has four sections entirely devoted to Western paintings, of
which about 150 have been displayed- many of them originals. The works
adorning the walls are that of the leading contemporary European masters
of the early half of the 20th century, mostly between 1900 and 1938.
Some of the outstanding original works include the Madonna
of the Book by Andrea Del Sarto; a Rembrandt self-portrait, In The Prison
Of Aurangzeb by A.H. Muller, Beggar Boy by Bartona Morilla, Franciso by L.
Goya, Boy Volunteer by G.G. Hierice, Game of Draughts by F. Morelli, Pairs
by Cornil.
The bronze and marble sculpture section in the courtyard has several
miniature marble statues of Greek mythological figures, where Apollo,
David and Mercury jostle with Dyna and Venus for space.
The Indian paintings sections too are adorned by stalwarts,
including three originals by Raja Ravi Varma-his renowned Sairandhree and
the other two are Damayanti and Malyali Lady. Thakur Singh's famous
painting of a bathing damsel too adorns the walls of this museum. The
works of leading artists of Maharashtra like Baburao Painter, D.L.
Haldankar and Rao Bahadur Dhurandhar also find place here.
The Bengali paintings section includes works of Jamini Roy, Nandlal Bose,
Bhuvan Verma and Sadhana Ukil, amongst others.
In addition the museum houses 4,000 articles of jewellery and other
priceless items, including a rare walking stick supposed to have belonged
to Emperor Jehangir, made of ivory and studded with 208 rubies, and a 50
paisa coin-sized emerald.
The handle and the corner of the stick is of pure gold. The Tibetan wall
hanging depicting Vishnu is studded with diamonds, sapphires, rubies,
emeralds and crystal and decorated with gold threads.
Timings: 10.00 am to 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm
Closed On: Mondays
Satara Road is the nearest railway station. There are regular buses from Swargate to Satara and buses from Satara to Aundh.
Accommodation is available at the hotels in Satara.