Page 282 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

280  EASTERN INDIA

9 Chowringhee 0 Indian Museum
JL Nehru Rd. The Asiatic Society:
1, Park St. Tel (033) 2229 0779. The oldest and largest museum in India, the Indian Museum
Library: Open 10am–5pm Mon–Sat. was founded in 1814. The imposing building, designed by
Museum: Open 10am–6pm Mon–Fri. Walter Granville, also the architect of the General Post Office
∑ asiaticsocietycal.com (see p275), dates to 1878. The impressive collection here is
Now called Jawaharlal Nehru noted for artifacts from the 2,500 BC Indus Valley Civilization,
Road, Chowringhee was a sculpture from Gandhara, the superbly sculpted railings from
fashionable promenade during the 2,000-year-old Bharhut Stupa, and a fine display of
the Raj. This thoroughfare 5th-century Gupta coins. The museum’ s collaboration with
derives its name from a fakir Google Cultural Institute has made high-definition images
(holy man), Jungle Giri
Chowringhee, who once lived of the exhibits accessible from anywhere in the world.
here. At its northern end is
the Oberoi Grand (see p697).
Established in the 1870s, and
known as the Grand Hotel,
it was considered “the most
Popular, Fashionable and
Attractive Hotel in India”.
Behind the Oberoi Grand is
New Market (see p286), built in
1874. Surmounted by a clock
tower, shops here are placed
along many interconnected
corridors. One of the oldest is
the Jewish confectionery and Pala Bronze
bakery, Nahoum’s, which has This 12th-century Bodhisattva
a beguiling variety of cookies, (an enlightened being) figure
shows the fluid grace and
fudge and spiced cakes. beauty of Pala sculpture.
At its southern end, on Park
Street, is The Asiatic Society,
founded in 1784 by Sir William
Jones, a formidable Oriental
scholar. He was the first to
establish the common origins
of Latin and Sanskrit, and called
Sanskrit the “mother of all
languages”. The Society’s
Museum and Library have a
large collection of over 60,000
old and rare manuscripts in
Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian,
as well as artifacts such as a
3rd-century BC stone edict, and
17th-century folios from the
Badshahnama, Abdul Hamid
Lahori’s history of the Mughal
emperor Shah Jahan’s rule.

Chandela Sculpture
Dating to the 10th-11th
century, this sensuous maiden
from Khajuraho holds a baby
The Metropolitan Building, one of the in her arms while two small
landmarks on Chowringhee children cling to her knees.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see p697 and pp710–11

280-281_EW_India.indd 280 26/04/17 11:54 am