Sanskriti Museum opens at Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi

A 19th-century tiger mask and a brass breastplate from Karnataka stand at the entrance of the newly opened Sanskriti Museum of Everyday Art & Indian Textiles at the Humayun’s Tomb World Heritage Site Museum.

The gallery draws on more than 1,000 artefacts and textiles assembled over five decades by OP Jain, founder of the Sanskriti Museums. The Sanskriti Board of Trustees gifted the collection to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, while the Aga Khan Trust for Culture designed and executed the display.

Its rooms move through a life cycle: painted wooden walkers and cradles for childhood; ornate pens, ink pots and wooden slates for education; then work tools, kitchen utensils, beauty objects and household boxes. A display of lotas sits alongside objects including betel-nut crackers, lamps, combs, locks and mortar-pestles.

Textiles include Rajasthan’s bandhani, Kashmiri kani shawls, Punjab’s phulkaris and a Baluchari sari border from West Bengal embroidered with “Vande Mataram” in Bengali. Clay horses and elephants from Tamil Nadu’s Ayyanar terracotta tradition are displayed in the courtyard. The museum is open from 10am to 6pm.