Patricia Poupon (Director, Alliance Française de Bhopal) here on Monday inaugurated a special periodical exhibition ‘Time Past and Time Present: Treasures of The Asiatic Society, Kolkata’ mounted by The Asiatic Society, Kolkata in collaboration with Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya at Rock Art Exhibition Hall of IGRMS.
Prof Sarit Kumar Chaudhuri (Director, IGRMS) gave the welcome address and brief profile of General Secretary, The Asiatic Society. He said Prof SB Chakrabarti is the second anthropologist to be appointed as General Secretary of The Asiatic Society since its inception 233 years ago.
Giving the inaugural lecture Prof SB Chakrabarti (General Secretary, The Asiatic Society, Kolkata) said “It is historical in itself that two institutions of national importance coming together and mounting an exhibition. The Asiatic Society was established on 15 January 1784, its founder Sir William Jones, a judge by profession. He visualised The Asiatic Society as a centre for Asian studies including almost everything concerning man and nature within the geographical limits of the continent.
The Asiatic society was virtually the parent body of all institutions of the kind like – The Indian Museum, the surveys – Geological, Botanical, Zoological, Archaeological and Indian Science Congress Association etc. Prof Chakrabarti gifted a book ‘Time Past and Time Present: Two Hundred and Twenty Five Years of The Asiatic Society’ to the Director, IGRMS and Director, Alliance Française de Bhopal.
Addressing the gathering, the chief guest of the inauguration, Ms. Patricia Poupon informed about the galleries on ‘Indology’ in various prominent museums of France and she said, “We expect a bright inter-organisational future. This exhibition provides vast knowledge and the youngsters must visit it.”
This periodical travelling exhibition depicts the history and contribution of the Asiatic Society to the knowledge and study of human civilization in Asia since 1784. It includes photographic reproduction of archival documents, digitised prints of manuscripts, paintings, letters, lithographs, text panels, books and journals etc.