India has drawn scholars from around the world for thousands of years. Richard T. Blurton, head of the South Asian section in the Asian Department in London's British Museum is one such scholar who fell in love with this ancient civilisation. He first came to India over forty years ago. Now he can't stay away.
He's always visiting the country for his various projects. “I'm engaged with Indian culture. I find it very interesting that it has an ancient and independent history yet it is deeply connected to my culture. As someone from Britain, I find that being affected by India is inevitable. People always speak of the special relationship between Britain and America. I like to think of it as a special relationship between Britain and India.”
He is currently working on a project in the North East, “Tribal transitions: Cultural Change in Arunachal Pradesh” in collaboration with School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Arunachal University and the Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation.
“Little has been recorded about these scarcely known places. I've worked on religious traditions, pilgrimage, crafts and painting traditions. I have had the opportunity to join a group, which is working on the recording of orally transmitted literature. The people in these areas have no script. The use of English and Hindi has become widespread, so their literature is threatened. I worked in the Tawang region, which is close to the India, Bhutan and Tibet borders. My book is almost ready to be published.”
He was in the city to present his research in the North-East at a three-day seminar on “Pioneering Metallurgy: Origins of iron and steel making in the southern Indian subcontinent” at the National Institute of Advanced studies (NIAS).
Richard has worked on over 15 exhibitions including “Enduring Image”, where more than 300 artefacts were brought from the British Museum to India, to mark the 50th anniversary of India's independence and “Garden and Cosmos: the Royal Paintings of Jodhpur” in 2009. He has also published many books on Indian and Burma (“Hindu Arts” and “Bengali Myths”). He has been curating at the British Museum since 1986, where he focuses on late medieval, early modern and modern collections.
“We have a very large collection on India. The museum was founded in 1753 and even at that time, we had Indian objects. We try to use our collection as a window to Indian culture in London. We attempt to preserve it for our audience of nearly six million every year. We also have another 20 million people visiting our records of the museum collections on our website.”
He plans on returning to India early next year, to kick-start more collaborations. “There are lots of joint activities between both museums all the time. We work on research, training and exhibition projects. Today, the best results come through collaborations, where the other party brings things that we can't access and we bring things that they can't.”
The starting point for Richard's research is always library work and the existing museum collections. “At the end of our research in the North East, there was an exhibition called “Between Assam and Tibet” where we used resources including archival and modern photos and objects, we drew on existing collections in London.”
Lately, Richard has also been working on art and painting collections. “I find Indian art varied, vibrant and stimulating. It is almost impossible to keep a track on it sitting in London. I try to come and meet artists and gallery owners and make small acquisitions. We hope to be able to say something relevant about Indian culture,” he finishes.
