Digging up the past

After successful collaborations in the past it looks like the British Museum and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralaya CSMVS have more to look forward to In 2012 and 2014 important artifacts from the British Museum including an Egyptian mummy and the 2600yearold Cyrus Cylinder considered the first Human Rights charter were displayed at CSMVS when art historian Neil MacGregor was the formers directorNeil MacGregor former director of British Museum at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya PicDatta KumbharMacGreogor who retired from his post in December 2015 is now part of an advisory board for the Berlin Palace mdash Humboldt Forum Foundation but continues to form bonds between museums In town last week to announce the revival of the CSMVS Research Journal which went out of print in 1973 he caught up with midday to discuss what is keeping him busyEdited excerpts from the interviewQ You are back in Mumbai and at CSMVS after your visit last year What are your plans beside the launchA My visit here is also to discuss with Mr Sabyasachi Mukherjee director of CSMVS an exhibition that we are planning for the end of next year The idea of the exhibition which will take place at CSMVS is to look at the history of India in the context of world history It is a good cooperation because Indian objects will come from CSMVS and objects from other parts of the world will be borrowed from the British Museum So it should be possible to look at Indian history perhaps in a new wayQ You have a reputation for not letting artifacts become appropriated for political purposes How will this exhibition place India in a different lightA The point of museums is to study objects and present the latest research Every visitor has to decide how to interpret that The role of the museum is to allow people to tell different stories from the objects The museum shouldnt have a view on what is the right or wrong perspectiveQ What is your current research on faith and society and fire aboutA At the British Museum we are preparing an exhibition on faith and society for next year Every society that we know has a structure of belief from the British Museums collection we are trying to look at how different societies at different places and times have come to develop varied ideas about the same things And fire is something that has symbolic value in every religion since it is the only element that human beings have to keep alive Fire is natural but somehow divine How the ancient Romans thought about fire is different from the way the Jews and the Parsis did For the Romans fire is the centre of the house and the state and the fire in the temple is the symbol of the survival of the state For the Jews fire is dangerous and is Gods powerQ Are these different from the way Parsis thought about fireA For the Parsis fire is purity and not meant to be contaminated So while the Jews would burn meat offerings in it the Parsis would keep it pure The British Museum has three ceramic tiles that explain a Parsi fire ceremony which will be on displayQ Do you plan to research more on the Parsis during your stay in MumbaiA Yes We are aiming to find a person an expert on the community who will speak on a radio programme for BBC Radio Four I am not sure if I will be able to go to Udvada this time howeverQ It looks like you and Mr Mukherjee have become besties Could you tell us more about the bond between the two museumsA The CSMVS and the British Museum have a long historic relationship right from a connection with Assyrian reliefs I have been working in Berlin after my retirement which has long been a centre of European study of India my successor at the British Museum is a German Hartwig Fischer from Dresden which has an interesting collection of Indian paintings Dresden and CSMVS have a partnership to study those paintings All European museums want to understand better the history of India The research journal which has scholars from India but also those from Britain and America is in this direction All museums are part of a world community of scholars and researchers this world community of scholars is working together to write new histories