Government Museum, Mathura

Government Museum, Mathura, commonly referred to as Mathura museum, is an archaeological museuminMathura city of Uttar Pradesh state in India. The museum was founded by then collector of the Mathura district, Sir F. S. Growse in 1874. Initially, it was known as Curzon Museum of Archaeology, then Archaeology Museum, Mathura, and finally changed to the Government Museum, Mathura.^[1]

Government Museum, Mathura
Front view of the Museum in Mathura

Established	1874
Location	Mathura
Key holdings	Mudgarpani Agnipani Parkham Yaksha Mathura Herakles Isapur Yūpa Saptarishi Tila statue Bhutesvara Yakshis
Founder	Frederic Growse
Director	Shiv Prashad Singh

The museum in 1949

The museum houses artifacts pottery, sculptures, paintings, and coins primarily from in and around Mathura, plus discoveries made by noted colonial archaeologists like Alexander Cunningham, F. S. Growse, and Fuhrer.^[1] The museum is famous for ancient sculptures of the Mathura school dating from 3rd century BC to 12th century AD., during Kushan Empire and Gupta Empire.^[2] today it is one of the leading museums of Uttar Pradesh.^[3]

The Government of India issued a postage stamp on 9 October 1974 on the centenary of the museum.

Archaic Mother Goddess, Prehistory, 4th Century BCE
3000-year-old anthropomorphic copper figure (ACCN 93-51) found at Shahabad, UP
Parkham Yaksha, 150 BCE^[4]
Mudgarpani Yaksha, 100 BCE^[5]
Seated Bodhisattva, 1st century CE^[6]^[7]
Jain chaumukha sculpture with Suparshvanatha and Three Other Tirthankaras, 1st century
Jain Ashtamangala, 1st century
Ayagapata, Jain Tablet, 1st Century
Naigamesha Jain god of Childbirth, 1st-3rd century CE.^[8]
Parshvantha, Kushan Period, 2nd century
Tirthankara, Kushan Period
Statue of Kanishka I (c. 127 – c. 140), Kushan Empire.
Standing Buddha, 2nd century CE
Head of Buddha. C. 5th Century CE, Chamunda mound, Mathura district
Jain colossal head, Gupta period
Standing Buddha, 5th century CE
Rishabhanatha idol, 6th century
Jain chaumukha sculpture, 6th century
Parshvanatha, Post Gupta Period, 6th-8th Century CE
Goddess Ambika - Medieval Period
Four-armed seated Vishnu in meditation. Medieval Period, Pannapur.
Anjani with Child Hanuman, Bronze, Pallava Period
Naminatha, 12th century
Bodhisattva Manjushri statue, 15th-16th Century
Buddha with Vajra, Bronze, 18th Century
Balarama, 18th Century
Baby Krishna with Ball, Bronze, Modern Age
Cast and Mould, Prehistory and Terracotta Gallery
Statue of Victoria, Empress of India

Mathura lion capital

^ ^a ^b "Government Museum, Mathura". Parampara Project, Ministry of Culture, govt. of India. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2014.

^ "Priceless artefacts hidden away from tourists' eyes". The Tribune. 18 August 2002.

^ "Mathura-A Treasure Trove Of AntiquitieS". IGNCA website. May–June 2001. Archived from the original on 19 October 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2010.

^ Dated 150 BCE in Fig. 15-17, general comments p.26-27 in Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie (2007). History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE. BRILL. ISBN 9789004155374.

^ Dated 100 BCE in Fig.88 in Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie (2007). History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE. BRILL. p. 368, Fig. 88. ISBN 9789004155374.

^ Myer, Prudence R. (1986). "Bodhisattvas and Buddhas: Early Buddhist Images from Mathurā". Artibus Asiae. 47 (2): 111–113 Fig. 10. doi:10.2307/3249969. ISSN 0004-3648. JSTOR 3249969.

^ Annual report 1909-10. ASI. pp. 63–65.

^ "Naigamesa was a popular deity in the Kushana period and we have at least eight figures of this god from Mathura assignable to c. 1st to 3rd century A.D. (GMM., E. 1, 15.909, 15, 1001, 15. 1046, 15. 1115, 34.2402, 34. 2547, SML., J 626, etc)" in Joshi, Nilakanth Purushottam (1986). Mātr̥kās, Mothers in Kuṣāṇa Art. Kanak Publications. p. 41.

Bharat Online – Mathura Museum

Government Museum, Mathura

Overview

Notable collections

See also

References

Further reading

External links

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