Dogra Art Museum

  Dogra Art Museum, Jammu previously known as   the Dogra Art Gallery is a museum of Dogra cultural heritage   housed in the Pink Hall of the Mubarak     Mandi complex, Jammu, India. The main attractions of the   museum are the Pahari miniature paintings from Basohli.

In its initial days it was known as the Ajaib Ghar, an Urdu term for the word "Museum" (Urdu used to be the court language then) and was housed in a mini hall having some collection of arms and old photographs where now the Assembly hall has been erected within in New Secretariat, Jammu. It was the first step towards setting up of a museum in the erstwhile Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu. After the states' accession with the Union of India, a committee - in the year 1954 - was organized under the president-ship of Shri Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, the then Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Shri Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq, Education Minister, Shri G.L.Dogra, Finance Minister, Master SaChand Baru famous Artist and Prof.R.N.Shastri (now Padamshri) were the members of the committee. Some space in the Gandhi Bhawan Hall adjacent to New Secretariat was allotted to this committee for housing and display of artifacts. The Museum was inaugurated by the first president of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 18 April 1954 at the Gandhi Bhawan, Jammu as the Dogra Art Gallery. It was upgraded to a full-fledged museum and shifted to, its present building, the Mubarak Mandi Complex,Jammu. Master Sansar Chand Baru was appointed its first Curator(Head).

The museum has a collection of 7216 objects of historical and cultural importance. Among the collections are the Rasmanjari series of the famed Basohli miniature paintings and some rare manuscripts like the beautifully illustrated Shahnama and Sikandernama in Persian.

Terracotta heads from Akhnoor, Sculptures, numismatics, manuscripts, Dogra costumes, jewellery, arms and armours, metal objects and artifacts related to Decorative arts. The intricately decorated marble jharokhas with inlaid work of semi precious stones in the marble hall further embellishes the charisma of the museum collection. However, what the museum is known all over for is the Pahari miniature paintings from Basholi. A gold plated bow belonging to Mughal emperor Shah Jehan and a stone plate with inscriptions in Takri Script are among some of the most prized possessions of the museum.

The Jammu region, one of the three regions of Jammu and Kashmir state (the others being the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh), is bound on the north by the Pir Panjal Range of the middle Himalayas, in the south by Punjab, to the east by Ladakh, and close to the west by Pakistan. The lower Himalayan ranges begin behind the town of Jammu, which rests on a slope over 1,300 feet (400 m) above sea level, overlooking and commanding the plain watered by the Chenab, Ravi, Tawi and Ujh rivers. The Jammu region consists of ten districts: Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur, Doda, Poonch, Kishtwar, Reasi, Samba, Ramban and Rajouri. The city of Jammu is the winter capital of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Jammu Dogras traditionally inhabited the area between the slopes of the Shivalik range of mountains, the sacred lakes of Saroien sar and Mannsar but later spread over whole of Jammu region. They generally speak Dogri and other dialects similar to Dogri. The majority of the Dogra are followers of Hinduism, but a large number in Jammu and Kashmir believe in other religions. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, some Dogras embraced Islam. These factors, together with the effects of immigration into the region, have resulted in the Dogra population of Jammu and Kashmir including members of all three religions.

The Dogra Raj emerged as a regional power, particularly after Maharaja Gulab Singh emerged as a warrior and his subjects received special martial recognition from the British Raj. The rule of Gulab Singh's Raj extended over the whole of the Jammu Region, a large part of the Ladakh region as early as March 1846, and a large part of the Indian Punjab (now Himachal Pradesh). The Kashmir Valley was handed over to Gulab Singh by the British government, for assisting the British during the Anglo-Sikh wars, as part of the territories ceded to the British government by Lahore State according to the provisions of Article IV of the Treaty of Lahore dated 9 March 1846. Under the Treaty of Amritsar in the same year, the Dogra king of Jammu and the state was thereafter known as the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir State (Raj), also thereafter referred as Kashmir State. The term Dogra hence is more akin to the subjects of Himachal Pradesh, some areas of Punjab and the whole region of Jammu that was ruled by Raja Gulab Singh as part of the Dogra Raj irrespective of the religion .............................