Telangana State Archaeology Museum

The A P State Museum has very competent guides. They tell you where to go and then they get back to whatever it was that they were doing behind the desk. After buying the ticket you're told to go upstairs and are generally given the impression that you are likely to find something there. And you do, and it's called the Bronze Gallery. For whatever cosmic reason, you find that everything here is made of Bronze... the mystery deepens.

This section of the museum has various bronze sculpture in glass enclosures with details about their time period, their various dimensions, their place of discovery and other general information. These artifacts are then further classified according to the various beliefs behind them. For example, there is the Jainism section which highlights sculpture with Jain influences. Likewise the Shaivism and Vaishnavism sections.

Then there is the statue of Kubera, or more commonly known as the laughing Buddha, and a temple bell from the 11th century which begs to ring and herald in the New Year. Then you have these information boards which, for example, tell you a little something about the techniques of bronze carving, and about the bronze craft in general.

After you come down from the gallery, the guide (I'm beginning to doubt that now) tells you in measured monosyllables to head towards the main building. Keep the ticket stub with you since attendants in every portion of the museum have to see it once to reaffirm their faith in the ticketing business. This portion of the museum has various articles from the Paleolithic and Neolithic age, like the various cutting tools in the form of chisels, among others.

Then there is the portion which showcases the various arms and ammunition with muskets, daggers, swords, bows, spears and knives. A lot of the shelves and showcases are empty due to allegations of a renovation. However, there are the mummified remains of the daughter of the 6th Pharaoh of Egypt. The entrance to this side of the museum has slabs of stones with Arabic and Sanskrit writing etched onto them.

On the 1st floor of this building you have the Ajanta gallery with paintings from that period depicting various events. A painting that catches the eye is the one which portrays a mother and child kneeling in front of Buddha. The other good thing about this section is that it has a fan - something which is missing in the rest of the museum. There is also a numismatic corridor, as it were, somewhere on this floor, with a malnourished collection of old coins from various dynasties.

The final leg of the self-guided tour ends with a visit to the Buddhist gallery. Fork over the ticket stub for the last time and you can step inside the dark dank elongated corridor room thingy. This section has various stone pedestals with inscriptions and other drawings. A lot of the sculptures look the same, but if you look closely enough in the darkness I'm sure you'll spot the differences.

You can pick these little postcards of the exhibits in the antiquities and painting section for 25 rupees, and a booklet on the bronze section called Bronze Through The Ages for 35 rupees. These takeaways are available at the ticket counter.

On the whole, the A P State Museum is not all shipshape and Bristol fashion, but it's not going to rack and ruin either. A decent way to spend a lazy afternoon.