After almost three years, the government museum in Saharsa reopened for public viewing on Monday.
The museum was set up in 2004 near the ancient Matsyagandha lake at Saharsa to conserve the heritage and antiquities discovered during explorations and excavations in Kosi area. Its collections include images of Lord Buddha, Goddess Tara and of the Sun God carved in black stone.
But all these had not been available for public viewing as the doors of the museum remained closed following the retirement of its curator in February 2019.
On August 30, Dr Alok Ranjan, Bihar’s culture minister got its doors reopened for viewers.
“The Saharsa museum, which is known as the Karu Khirhar Museum, has been the 26th in the list. It was created to conserve and display the antiquities discovered in this area, but since 2019, it’s been closed due to shortage of hands in the directorate of museums. But to revive it, the directorate has appointed some employees now,” he said. There are 27 government museums in the state including five in state capital Patna.
Besides, the culture department has planned development of this museum to make it an effective institution for the conservation of antiquities. It will showcase the heritage of the Kosi and of the Mithila regions, the minister said.
“We are planning for a better and bigger building for the museum. The district administration has provided land for this purpose in the Naya Bazaar area at Saharsa,” he said. The culture department will now get a detailed project report prepared for the Museum building, he added.
Another official from the culture department, who did not want to be quoted, said Karu Khirhar Museum at Saharsa has been the most recent among the museums in the state. “It was set up to retain the antiquities and other archaeological findings of the region at the local level. There’s been a trend to take all the archaeological findings and discoveries from districts to the state capital,” the official said.
Some of the Kosi region’s archaeological findings, which are now at the Saharsa Museum, were in the state capital earlier. In a bid to return them to their land, this Museum was created in 2004, the official added. “But security has been a big issue at this Museum. Also, there has also been a shortage of employees here. It remained closed earlier also due to the shortage of employees and was reopened in 2015 after a long gap of six years,” the official said.
