The ten thousand year old Indian culture is not only the oldest living culture in the world, but also it is the only culture that has maintained a continuous link with its hoary past. From the pre-Harappan period and perhaps from an even earlier period of cave art to the art, religion and culture of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain periods and the ennobling scriptures like the Vedas, the product of oral tradition, the Tamil songs, the paintings and sculptures in the caves and later in structural monuments is one continuous organic link. Indian society today still practises many of the customs described in its literature and depicted in visual form as paintings and sculptures.
South India is a cradle of civilisation. Civilisation existed here more than 10,000-15,000 years before the present. Its highly advanced civilisation has produced its famous temples. These serve as repositories of architecture, art and culture. The sculptures, bronzes, paintings and the murals in the temples show by their highly stylised features that they are the flowers and fruits of this highly evolved civilisation.
The Government Museum, Chennai is one of the great museums of the world. It stands second in India in terms of its size and its collection. It is the second oldest museum in India having been started in 1851 AD. Documentation of the collections is an important work of the Department of Museums as a purveyor of knowledge in addition to entertaining and educating the public. The Government Museum, Chennai has a tradition of original and path breaking publications to its credit. Some of the notable Indologists like Dr. George Bidie, Dr. Edger Thurston, Dr. F. H. Gravely, Dr. A. Aiyyappan, T. N. Ramachandran, (Sivaramamurti and others worked in this Museum and wrote books. These have become standard reference material in their respective fields.
Dr. R. Kannan has headed the Department of Museums from 1999 onwards for several time spans. He also aded the Department of Archaeology concurrently on and off. He has conserved and restored many mnum ats and temples. He has also created several galleries and refurbished several old galleries in the Gover nent Museum, Chennai and other museums. He has written several books and monographs touching almos all the aspects of South Indian Archaeology earlier. He is one of the few officers of the Indian Administrative Service who is an administrator turned Archaeological Conservator-cum-Museologist. He currently works as Additional Chief Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments department in the secretariat while holding additional charge of the Department of Museums, the latter being his labour of love.
India has a ten thousand year old culture. It is the oldest culture in the world. It is the only culture that has survived the onslaught of time and many invasions but is still living. From the rock art in the caves which are dated before even the pre- Harappan civilisation (Mehrgarh Dilji Kot phase circa 8000 BC and the same phase recently discovered in 2003-04 in Bhiranna, Haryana in the Saraswati River area) to the present day is one grand continuum. Highly stylised couture, sculptures, temples and monuments characterise India even from the Mauryan Era circa 300 BC. Rock art of red ochre and white ochre are seen from hoary antiquity in Bhimbetka near Bhopal and Vellerikombai in the forests near Kotagiri in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu. Paintings of vegetable and mineral dyes have evolved around the early Christian Era. The Ajanta and Ellora paintings near Aurangabad circa mainly 7-9 Centuries AD and Chittannavasal in Pudukottai circa 9" Century AD are the leading species of this genre.
The physical evidence of the ancient Indian culture is the rock and cave art, exquisite sculptures, temples and archaeological monuments that we see today. Archaeology has mainly three branches, epigraphy, iconography and conservation. Caring for the ancient monuments and keeping them in a proper state of repair is the prime duty of every Indian. This ensures that we do not cut the umbilical cord with our hoary past. The work of preserving our past falls under Conservation Archaeology mainly dealing with ancient monuments which could be Stupas, temples, mausoleums, forts, towers and other structures.
Conservation is preservation using traditional methods and modern methods like chemical conservation of paintings in addition to vegetable and mineral dyes which are the mainstay. Chemicals are used only here absolutely necessary to preserve the ancient monuments, paintings, manuscripts etc on an as is where is basis ie, the status quo. Restoration is applying the mind of the archaeologist, referring to past records like old photographs, paintings, descriptions in historical documents like travelogues of writers and of course, projecting the mind of the present day archaeologist into the mind of the past sculptor or painter to restore it to its original position. This involves some additions, which are in the nature of filling in of the gaps. However, it is not a licence to create an entirely new structure or painting as is commonly misunderstood. There is a strict code of conduct for the Conservationist - Archaeologist and Conservation-Archaeology. This is according to UNESCO norms and the Venice Charter, 1964.
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