Ancients And Moderns

An ambitious new museum set up by the state government seeks to reclaim bihar’s historic legacy as an international centre of culture

- Chinki Sinha

ART REQUIRES A STORY, SAYS ANJANI Kumar Singh, chief secretary of Bihar. Taking the example of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, housed at the Louvre in Paris, he says the painting is seen by six million people every year. It is famous for many reasons, not least its age—it is about 500 years old—but on that count, the Didarganj Yakshi, a 5 foot 2 inch tall sandstone statue, is even more impressive. Estimated to be more than 2,300 years old, it was found on the banks of the Ganges about a century ago. Today, it is one of the prize exhibits at Patna’s newly built Bihar Museum, a Rs 500 crore state government enterprise that opened its doors to the public on October 2. “The Didarganj Yakshi is the Mona Lisa of Bihar,” Kumar continues, talking up the leap of faith the state took in setting up this museum—the brainchild of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, which chief secretary Kumar was responsible for executing. “We must sell our stories and promote our heritage and culture.”