How would have been the state of Indian art had there been no literature like the Mahabharata, Ramayana, the Buddhist Jataka stories, stories from the Jain literature and the Puranas? It would have been an art without any ethical, moral and spiritual values for which India is justly known all over the world. If the art is the manifestation of body then the essence of Mahabharata and Puranas is its soul. The art of India is embodiment of Purusartha transformed into tangible images in the forms of sculptures and paintings to be found on the facades and murals of the temples. In fact, temple symbolises the human body and the presiding deity of the temple is represented by the soul. The beauty of Indian art is that it is a prefect blend of the body and soul harmoniously synchronized into various forms. The Brahmanical art depicts stories or episodes from the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and the Puranas.

Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Puranas have been revered all over the country and abroad for its philosophical, cultural, and moral values. Even though the Mahabharata is popularly identified with the Kurukshetra battle, yet as a literary text its relevance has always been adored for being a treasure house of myriad art forms. The essence of Mahabharata and Puranas have been so inspiring that its thoughts and stories were integrated into the plays and plastic arts not only in India but also spread over to south-east Asia. The popular episodes of Mahabharata and Puranas are not only chanted in the temples but have also been incorporated in the fine and performing arts of India and abroad. Beautiful narration of stories of Mahabharata and Puranas are carved on the temple facade of the great Ankorvat. The Mongolian-Turks in their vernacular language translated the Mahabharata and the epic has been translated into vernacular language of Java and to be found with vibrant expression in their performing arts.

The subject matter or the theme of the art is as much crucial in art as much the art itself. On the one hand, where the connoisseurs look out for aesthetic element or dexterity of expression in the art, there on the other hand the common people get inspiration from the theme of the art in which a philosophy or a message is entwined. Probably the Mahabharata and Puranas provided sources to make art that could cater to the taste of the common man and connoisseurs as well.

The selection of episode from the longest epic- the Mahabharata or for instance the Puranas for transforming them into art forms might have been a herculean task for the artists. However, the survey of Indian art shows the artists were inspired to carve or paint images and stories only of the popular episodes from the Mahabharata or Bhagavata Purana as these themes are invariably depicted in the temple art, theator and mural traditions of India and abroad.

It has been an endeavour of this museum to present Krishna as narrated in the episodes of the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana. His childhood exploits, his miracles, his philosophical preaching of the three cardinal yogas in the Gita viz., the Karma (desire less action), the Jnana (supreme knowledge) and the Bhakti (complete devotion) are depicted through the artefacts collected from places for which a particular art form is known for. Each of these artefacts is a masterpiece and unique in its own for its delicacy and intricacy of workmanship. The collection includes ancient objects as well as traditional art objects.

The museum has six galleries, three each in two blocks. The exhibits displayed in the galleries are the exquisite wooden panels, wood carvings, ivory works, bronze casting, archaeological artefacts, stone sculptures, palm- leaf etchings, miniature paintings from various schools of art such as Kangra, Basholi, Mankot, Bundi, Mewar, Nathadwara etc., pichhvaies from Rajasthan, applique works from Orissa and Gujarat, tableaux on Mahabharata and Bhagavata episodes made of Papier-mâché and clay.

Archaeological treasures of any place have a special attraction for the tourists and visitors visiting a museum. They inquisitively want to unravel the mystery entwined with the artefact displayed therein. Obviously, in a place like Kurukshetra, the curiosity of the visitors is doubly intensified as they come here with a pre-occupied vision to see the land of Mahabharata. Thus, it becomes a herculian task to quench the thirst of such visitors in the absence of any direct material evidence to the event of Mahabharata.

In the epic Mahabharata, although there are innumerous characters, yet the protagonist Krishna steals the show and the whole story revolves around him only. Krishna by virtue of his extraordinary qualities could attain such as stature and even deified as a god. The museum in the land of Mahabharata has been christened as Krishna museum as he is the primeval character or the hero of the epic. By his charismatic personality he meticulously manipulated the victory to the righteous and thereby established Dharma or the order in the land of righteousness or Dharmakshetra i.e. Kurukshetra.

It is virtually very difficult to comprehend an archaeological gallery in the museum based on the thoughts and philosophy of Krishna. However, the museum has endeavored to collect some archaeological material from different sites pertaining to different periods of history in order to depict the archaeological sequence of the material culture of the so-called epic, pre-epic, and post-epic periods. Nevertheless, the museum’s effort is to not to establish the historicity of Mahabharata rather it is an attempt to probe into the reality of the epic that on the long run has turned in to a myth.

The archaeological collections of the museum are displayed in an exclusive gallery. In this gallery, the excavated findings from different archaeological sites pertaining to the theme of Mahabharata, Krishna, and Kurukshetra are displayed. In addition to this, an exquisite collection of stone sculptures depicting the Krishna-Vishnu theme beginning from Ist century AD to 12th century AD are the centre of attraction for the antique connoisseurs. However, the cynosure of all eyes lies on the rare findings of the sunken city of legendary Dwarka. Photographs of the reminiscence of ancient Dwaraka, pottery, conches, bangles and a steatite seal are displayed in the archaeological gallery.

The museum has made a humble effort to depict the five thousand years of the material history of Kurukshetra by exhibiting the ceramics in a sequential order. These fragments of clay pottery and terracottas belonging to different periods unearthed by scientific excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India, State Archaeology, and Kurukshetra University along with a map of Haryana showing the archaeological sites are displayed in the gallery.

Terracottas and ceramics are important source materials for the scientific reconstruction of history. The people used these in the past, which has been buried under the soil as time passed by. During the excavations, these are scientifically unearthed to determine the time to which they belonged. The Radiocarbon and Thermolumenisence dating of these ceramics reveal the absolute date of the culture. However, the relative dating of the ceramics is done based on their fabric colours, texture, painting, size, style of making, temperature applied for baking etc. Each period has its own style, fabric, texture, etc., which varies from one another, thus enable us to distinguish and determine their period of the ceramics.

Kurukshetra region has a rich heritage of art and sculpture as revealed by its archaeological findings such as exquisite stone sculptures, painted potteries, terracotta, architectural fragments, and murals of different temples.

The most important sculpture amongst the stone icons exhibited here is the image Ekanamsa flanked on either side by Balarama and Krishna. It belongs to Circa Ist century AD recovered from Faridabad. Another notable sculpture manifesting the classical Gupta art is the image of chakra Purusha, an ayudha purusha (personified from of Vishnu’s attribute, chakra) is really worth seeing for it delicacy of art and simplicity of expression in body language. Hari-Pitamaha, a composite image of Pratihara period (9th cent. AD) displayed here is a hallmark of composite sculpture making in Haryana. The image Hari-Pitamaha is an amalgamation of the images of Brahma and Vishnu. The composite image of the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesvara and Harihara the dual image of Vishnu and Shiva are found at many places, however the composite image of Brahma and Vishnu displayed here is indeed a rare one. It recalls the story of Hiranyakshavadha or rescuing the earth goddess from the onslaught of Hiranyaksha by Brahma and Vishnu in his Varahavatara or Boar incarnation as described in the Padma Purana.

An exotic statue of Ganesha in the archaeological gallery draws attention as the trunk of elephant headed God is unusually twisted to right instead of left. It also elucidates that the Ganapatya cult was in vogue during 8th century AD in Kurukshetra region.

The photographs of the Thanesar excavations showing the structural phases, building, drainage system, garden etc belonging to various periods of history are also displayed here. These photographs recall the glorious days of Thanesar as depicted in the literature of Bana, Hiuen-tsang, Alberuni, and others.

The archaeological treasures of Sri Krishna Museum are testimony to the laudable heritage of Kurukshetra. The tourists visiting the museum undoubtedly get educated in the land of enlightenment having seen the wonderful collections of ancient artifacts that depict the socio, economic cultural and religious life of the people of the region.

Since ours is a theme Museum on the subject of Krishna it was an ardent need to reproduce new episodes on which artifacts are not available anywhere in the country as were never represented in any form of art. With a view to depict the multifaceted personality of Krishna through various art forms and images, the museum has made an endeavour to reproduce certain uncommon episodes in the medium of paintings. In this attempt episodes such as ‘Krishna giving new life to the dead born child Parikshit’, ‘Krishna showing the Vishwarupa in the court of Dhritarashtra’, ‘Krishna’s visit to Kurukshetra on the occasion of Solar eclipse’, ‘Annihilation of Yadavas’, ‘Death of Krishna’ etc. Similarly, there are certain other episodes of the Mahabharata, which are very significant for understanding the metaphysical aspects of life in relation to the mundane living but not commonly depicted with an insight such as the essence of Bhagavadgita that was delivered to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. On the topic of Gita we have, a set of twenty-six painting, which are uncommon themes, represented in Kangra/Arki miniature.

The gallery has an octagonal parapet wall where huge murals depicting the unrepresented episodes from the Mahabharata can be seen. These are executed in Pattachitra, a traditional folk painting style of Orissa .In addition to the miniature paintings and murals, this gallery also exhibits some old illustrated paper manuscripts written in Sanskrit and Persian on the subject of Bhagavadgita, Mahabharata, and Yoga Vashishtha.

The most popular gallery of the museum is however is the tableau sections. These tableaux are fabricated in both clay and papiermache on the popular episodes of the Bhagavata and Mahabharata. The mannequins representing various characters of Mahabharata and Bhagavata Purana attired in colourful costumes and dazzling jewelry add beauty to the whole ambience of the dioramas. Tableaux are indeed the heartthrob of the children and the pilgrims visiting the museum.

Sri Krishna Museum, over the years has become so popular that in a small city like Kurukshetra about six hundred visitors visit the museum everyday. This is a unique museum on the theme of Krishna where under a single platform a variety of art and craft pertaining to the theme can be visulaised. Kurukshetra and Krishna can be seen in their perfect consonance here. The heritage of Indian epic has been epitomised here. One who loves his heritage would definitely appreciate what has been accomplished in this museum. It is a Kaleidoscope of Indian art and mythology in the historical land of Kurukshetra. It is here that Krishna enlightened the whole humanity through his eternal message of Bhagavadgita. Let his thoughts beacon new insights to the modern world through the images that are wonderfully exhibited in Sri Krishna Museum.