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{{Short description|Museum in Kolkata, India}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}{{Use Indian English|date=July 2023}}

{{Infobox museum
| name = Boat Museum, Kolkata
| established = {{Start date|2014|01}}
| location = Ambedkar Bhawan, Cultural Research Institute, [[Kankurgachi]], [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]] 700054
| coordinates = {{Coord|22.582|N|88.391|E|display=title,inline}}
| type = [[Ethnographic museum]]
| owner = [[Government of West Bengal]]
| website = {{URL|https://www.criwb.in/}}
}}

'''Boat Museum''' is a public museum that is solely dedicated to the documentation of the history of [[boat]]s in the [[Bengal|Bengal region]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite news |last=Gangopadhyay |first=Uttara |date=October 3, 2020 |title=A Whale Of A Time At India's Only Boat Museum |work=Outlook India |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/explore/story/69058/indias-only-boat-museum-in-kolkata-west-bengal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pal |first=Suchismita |date=2023-01-02 |title=Make Way To India's Only Boat Museum In Kolkata That Displays Models Of 46 Traditional Boats |url=https://curlytales.com/make-way-to-indias-only-boat-museum-in-kolkata-that-displays-models-of-46-traditional-boats/ |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=Curly Tales |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ready To Set Sail In India's One And Only Boat Museum In Kolkata? |url=https://www.whatshot.in/kolkata/the-only-boat-museum-of-india-exhibits-some-surprising-boats--ship-architecture-v-173407 |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=Whats Hot |language=en-IN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Row Row Row Your Boat All The Way To India’s Only Boat Museum In Kolkata {{!}} LBB |url=https://lbb.in/kolkata/boat-museum-kolkata/ |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=LBB, Kolkata |language=en}}</ref> Located in the Institute of Cultural Research in [[Kankurgachi]], [[Kolkata]], the museum is a rare initiative that aims to preserve the memories of Bengal's riverine past. The museum has been referred to as India's first museum dedicated to understanding boats, indigenous boat-making, and their heritage.<ref name=":12">{{Cite news |date=2022-03-13 |title=Take a boat ride into West Bengal’s maritime history at India’s only dedicated museum |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/take-a-boat-ride-into-bengals-maritime-history-at-indias-only-dedicated-museum/articleshow/90177228.cms |access-date=2023-06-29 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite news |date=2014-01-08 |title=Country's first boat museum inaugurated in Kolkata |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/countrys-first-boat-museum-inaugurated-in-kolkata/articleshow/28562264.cms |access-date=2023-06-29 |issn=0971-8257}}</ref> Adjacent to the Boat Museum is the Puppet Museum, Kantha Museum, and a collection of tribal artefacts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kolkata’s Kantha Museum, where tales are stitched |url=https://www.getbengal.com/details/kolkata-s-kantha-museum-where-tales-are-stitched |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=Get Bengal |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Conversing with Puppets of Bengal at Puppet Museum |url=https://www.getbengal.com/details/conversing-with-puppets-of-bengal-at-puppet-museum |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=Get Bengal |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ethnographic Museums in Cultural Research Institute |url=https://www.criwb.in/dis_msm.html |website=Cultural Research Institute, Government of West Bengal}}</ref>

Other similar establishments include the Kolkata Port Trust Maritime Archives and Heritage Centre, located on [[Strand Road, Kolkata]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kolkata Port Trust Maritime Archives and Heritage Centre |url=https://map.sahapedia.org/museum/Kolkata-Port-Trust-Maritime-Archives-and-Heritage-Centre/12191 |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=map.sahapedia.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Kolkata Port Trust Maritime Archive and Heritage Centre: A treasure trove of heritage |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/places/kolkata-port-trust-maritime-archive-and-heritage-centre-a-treasure-trove-for-heritage-lovers-and-history-enthusiasts/cid/1918174 |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref>

== History ==
The Bengal region is known as the “land of two rivers”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sengupta |first=Nitish K. |title=Land of two rivers: a history of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib |date=2011 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-341678-4 |location=New Delhi}}</ref> as it is topographically situated around the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta. This delta is formed by the confluence of the river [[Ganges]], also referred to as the [[Padma River]] in [[Bangladesh]], and the [[Brahmaputra River]]. These two rivers, alongside their innumerable tributaries, flow through the Bengal region, shaping its geographic landscape and contributing to its agricultural productivity. The abundant water supply from these rivers has made the Bengal region a prominent agricultural and cultural hub in South Asia. Therefore, different kinds of boats have historically performed an important role in different kinds of rivers. For instance, ''dholai'' is a cargo boat which is relevant in the [[Sundarbans|Sunderban]] region, whereas ''salti'' is a traditional fishing boat which was relevant for fishing purposes in the wetlands of East Kolkata.<ref name=":02" /> Boats and their structure radically varied since the ones in Northern Bengal would not be suitable for the river conditions in Eastern or Southern Bengal.
[[File:Boat Museum 1.jpg|thumb|Inside the Boat Museum]]
[[File:Boat Museum. Modeol Boat 7.jpg|thumb|Models of boats displayed at Boat Museum]]
Swarup Bhattacharyya,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Meet Swarup Bhattacharyya, ‘the boatman of Bengal’, who’s keeping a culture afloat |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/people/meet-swarup-bhattacharyya-the-boatman-of-bengal-who-documents-bengals-boat-making-and-maritime-heritage/cid/1853475 |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Documenting Bengal’s water craft – exclusive interview with the 'Boatman of Bengal' |url=https://www.getbengal.com/details/documenting-bengals-water-craft-exclusive-interview-with-the-boatman-of-bengal |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=Get Bengal |language=en}}</ref> an anthropology researcher and one of the minds behind facilitating the exhibits at the Boat Museum, says “Boat-making as a craft is passed on through the [[Guru–shishya tradition|guru-shishya tradition]]."<ref name=":32">{{Cite web |last=Ghosh |first=Deepanjan |date=2018-04-02 |title=A unique boat museum in Kolkata pays tribute to Bengal’s rivers and their forgotten traditions |url=https://scroll.in/magazine/872030/a-unique-boat-museum-in-kolkata-pays-tribute-to-bengals-rivers-and-their-forgotten-traditions |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=Scroll.in |language=en-US}}</ref> Given there does not exist any formally educated community of boat-makers, with the emergence of more industrialised and mechanised fishing equipment, indigenous boat-makers much like the boats started to disappear and soon came to represent a bygone era. It is to preserve the memories of what Bengal used to be, and to illustrate its rich riverine heritage, the Boat Museum was established in 2014. It was inaugurated by "[[Upendra Nath Biswas|Upendranath Biswas]], formerly the joint director of the [[Central Bureau of Investigation]] and the former minister for backward class welfare in the [[West Bengal government]]."<ref name=":32" /> Biswas was born on the banks of the [[Madhumati River]] and his father owned boats.<ref name=":32" />

With the vanishing of many of Bengal's indigenous boats and boat-making traditions, cultural activities like boats racing one another too decreased insofar as it has become a very rare sighting now. Thus the idea behind the Boat Museum is also to raise awareness regarding the riparian ecosystem of Bengal which does not typically find mention in any textbook or news and has almost disappeared from collective memory.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=2018-12-15 |title=This Kolkata boat museum is the only one of its kind in the country |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/society/this-kolkata-boat-museum-is-the-only-one-of-its-kind-in-the-country/article25752259.ece |access-date=2023-06-29 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref> The museum is a testament to one of Bengal's important traditions that stand to be lost in time.

== Collections ==
Boat Museum presently houses "46 wooden replicas of boats" that depicts Bengal's boat heritage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=West Bengal’s boat culture comes alive in Kankurgachi museum walk |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/news/west-bengals-boat-culture-comes-alive-in-kankurgachi-museum-walk/cid/1860106 |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref> From cargo boats of Sunderbans, coastal fishing boats, and popular flat-bottomed boats of Northern Bengal to all-purpose boats known as ''dinghi'' have been featured in the museum.<ref name=":12" /> The museum also exhibits a replica of the poet [[Rabindranath Tagore|Rabindranath Tagore's]] boat called Padma and a replica of a boat from the [[Mohenjo-daro]] era.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":0" />

Since boat-making is a tradition passed on from generation to generation, typically performed by communities that have become marginalised now, all the boat model exhibits presented in the museum have been made by the Rajbangshis of [[Dakshin Dinajpur district|South Dinajpur district]] to highlight traditional craftsmanship.<ref name=":22" />

== See also ==
{{commons category}}
* [[Bangladesh Maritime Museum]]
* [[Bangladesh National Museum]]
* [[Victoria Memorial, Kolkata|Victoria Memorial]]
* [[Indian Museum]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
# Hardgrave Jr, Robert L. (2001). ''Boats of Bengal: Eighteenth Century Portraits by Balthazar Solvyns''. Manohar Publishers and Distributors. ISBN 978-8173043581
# McGrail, Sean; Blue, Lucy; Kentley, Eric. (1999). "The Reverse-Clinker Boats of Bangladesh and Their Planking Pattern." ''South Asian Studies, 15(1), 151–158.'' doi:10.1080/02666030.1999.9628573

== External links ==

* [https://smportkolkata.shipping.gov.in/index1.php?layout=1&lang=1&level=1&sublinkid=633&lid=541 Kolkata Port Trust Maritime Archives and Heritage Centre]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolkata, Boat Museum}}
[[Category:Museums in Kolkata]]
[[Category:2014 establishments in West Bengal]]
[[Category:Museums established in 2014]]

Boat Museum, Kolkata - Revision history

जाट: Made initial pg basic info...