New Delhi, Jul 22 (PTI) From aesthetically carved toys and jewellery boxes to ‘paandans’ bearing ornate designs – a collection of nearly 2,500 rare objects that once graced the Sanskriti Kendra in Delhi is now part of a dedicated gallery at the Humayun’s Tomb Museum here.
The new gallery was inaugurated on Wednesday evening at a ceremony hosted on the museum premises at the Humayun’s Tomb complex – a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Sanskriti Kendra, which had thematic museums depicting a range of artefacts, from everyday items to various textiles, was established by O P Jain, now 97, from his personal collection built over decades, at Anandagram on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road in south Delhi.
In 2023, its board of trustees “gifted” its invaluable collection, barring a few objects and installations, to the nation through the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) in Delhi, officials said.
The collection of nearly 2,500 rare objects, including a 19th-century tiger mask and exquisitely designed sarees from undivided India, which were earlier housed at the Sanskriti Kendra, has now been moved to the new gallery at the Humayun’s Tomb Museum.
The dedicated gallery has been stylised as ‘Sanskriti Museum: Everyday Art and Indian Textiles’, set up by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) in collaboration with the IGNCA.
Jain attended the inauguration ceremony, although due to his old age, his speech was read out by AKTC CEO Ratish Nanda.
“O P Jain, now 97 years old, was essentially a paper merchant, but began collecting artistic objects and artefacts since the late 1970s, which formed the nucleus of his collection, and eventually the Sanskriti Kendra in south Delhi. We are honoured that about 2,500 of those artefacts are now displayed at our museum,” Nanda said.
At the entry door of the museum, a tiger mask and a breast plate of the 19th century have been installed, while the inside collection has been divided into various themes – toys, lotas, lamps, women’s beauty (bags, jewellery boxes, etc.), ‘paandan’ and a range of textile objects.
The textile items include sarees dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries, a Jamdani saree from Dhaka (then part of undivided India), and other rare weaves demonstrating styles such as Phulkari (undivided Punjab) and double Ikkat (Patan Patola of the Gujarat region), among others.
Two large ‘dastarkhwan’ – traditional dining spread cloth bearing verses from the Quran in Persian – are also part of the display, officials said.
Clay horses and elephants from the Ayyanar terracotta traditions of Tamil Nadu have been displayed in the museum courtyard, while an ornate heritage wooden gateway has been displayed facing the museum building.
“When the Sanskriti Foundation was established almost 50 years ago, it was guided by a simple conviction – that India’s cultural heritage is not merely to be admired, but to be cared for, studied and shared.
“The objects I collected over the decades – textiles, everyday artefacts or works of craftsmanship – were never acquired as possessions. They were always held in trust,” Jain said in his written speech read out by Nanda.
“Every collection reaches a moment when one must ask: What best serves the future? Not the future of an institution, but the future of the objects themselves, and of the stories they carry. Today marks our answer to that question,” he said.
Jain also said that he could not imagine a more appropriate home for this collection than the Humayun’s Tomb Museum, where it will be cared for with integrity and imagination, seen and appreciated by generations of visitors from around the world.
“Here, the collection becomes part of a larger narrative of India’s civilisational journey and everyday creativity,” he said.
The Sanskriti gallery will be open to the public from August 1, from 10 am to 6 pm. Entry ticket will cost Rs 50, with only 50 visitors permitted per hour, the AKTC said.
The Sanskriti Kendra was established a few decades ago to create an environment for the preservation of India’s heritage, and to showcase objects that demonstrate excellence in craftsmanship and conceptual innovation, be it in design or functionality.
The Humayun’s Tomb Museum, the country’s first sunken museum at the Humayun’s Tomb complex, where the story of the Mughal emperor and lesser-known facets of his life come alive, was inaugurated in July 2025 by Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
The complex comes under the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). PTI KND ARI
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