[MSN] India. Why a mummy might die.

[MSN]

Why a mummy might die
20 Apr 2008, 0021 hrs IST

Affluent Indians buying artifacts abroad is no new 21st century pursuit.
Back in 1887 AD, Jaipur ruler Sawai Ram Singh bought an Egyptian mummy: A
female priest over 2,200 years old. A few years back when Dr Nassry Youssef
Iskander, director of Egyptian Museum, visited the Rajasthan capital, he
observed that the mummy - one of seven in the country -needed serious
conservation or it would "die". He suggested the mummy be kept in a control
purging system with oxygen analyzer and its environment be calibrated every
two years. The museum is yet to follow the Egyptian expert's advice.
Officials refuse to discuss the subject, other than insisting that the mummy
is fine and would not "die." 

The mummy isn't an isolated story. Thousands of cultural objects have been
languishing in other state museums. A Lucknow museum official says, "Many
artifacts have not been displayed properly because there isn't enough
space." As per estimates, of the total 47,000 antiquities in Patna museum,
only 2,500 are on display. As many as 31,000 coins and some rare paintings
are dumped in the 80-year-old museum's storeroom. "Without immediate
chemical treatment, these would be lost forever," said an official. 

That's not all. There are reports of thefts too. Gold coins have been stolen
from the Asiatic Society, Kolkata. The Nobel medallion and several other
valuable artifacts were stolen from the Visva Bharati museum in 2004. A
Buddha bust was stolen from the Indian Museum, Kolkata. Only four of the 22
areas in the museum have adequate security arrangements. Three more are
being upgraded. 

A former Indian Museum official says that security could have been upped
long back. "It was a well-planned move to pilfer artifacts," he says. Amidst
such murky news, there's a sliver of hope too. The Bihar government recently
sanctioned Rs 2.87 crore for the museum's renovation. The funds would be
used to improve lighting, building construction and installing security
equipment. A two-layer security arrangement has already been put in place.
More than 600 antiquities displayed at the museum have already been
digitized. 

Even in Lucknow, the artifacts have been digitized. Senior ASI officials
maintain that state museums are doing an important job in preserving
antiquities. "For instance, the museum at Egmore in Tamil Nadu is well
kept," says KP Poonacha of ASI. But a lot more needs to be done. 

(Inputs from Prakash Bhandari in Jaipur, Pranava K Chaudhary in Patna,
Subhro Niyogi in Kolkata, N Shukla in Lucknow, and Avijit Ghosh in New
Delhi)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/