British Museum may loan Vrindabani Vastra to Assam for 18 months in 2027: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said British Museum authorities expressed their willingness to send the Vrindabani Vastra as a loan to Assam for 18 months in 2027.

The chief minister said that the the Vrindabani Vastra is a textile created under the guidance of Srimanta Sankardeva in the 16th century.

He added that the largest portion of the historically significant textiles is depicted at British Museum at present while the other portions are in some other museums in Europe. The Vastra depicts with pictorial artworks with threads the Dashabatara and some activities of Lord Krishna.


"We have been trying for this for a long time. The Vrindabani Vastra is at the British Museum in London and some other museums in Europe. After our efforts , the British Museum has finally written to us that they are actively considering to send the Vrindabani Vastra to Assam as a loan for 18 months subject to fulfilling of certain conditions," the Chief Minister said.

He added that the existing museums in Assam does not have the facility for proper preservation of the Vrindabani Vastra, they have asked us to make a new state of the art museum that fulfills certain environmental and security norms.

"While the state government has decided to grant one bigha land for setting up the museum near Khanapara, the JSW group, who has helped us establish contact with the British Museum on this, has agreed to built the proposed museum with their CSR funds," said Sarma.

He said is just the beginning. British Museum will approve and send us the design of the proposed museum and JSW group will build it. "We are not sure if budgetary provisions as of now and it will take some time to finalize things. The positive development is that by 2027 Vrindabani Vastra might get displayed in Assam physically.If we have the state of the art museums and host the Vrindabani Vastra from British Museum, we can also get the Vrindabani Vastra from others museums in Europe," Sarma said.

Sarma said that the government will also make an arrangement with the British Museum so that people from Assam can see the historical textile digitally from Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra in the days to come.

Sarma had visited British Museum earlier and seen the historical textiles. Former Speaker of Assam Legislative assembly Ranjit Kumar Dass has also visited France some years back.