Siddhagiri Gramjivan Museum (Kaneri Math)

Siddhagiri Gramjivan Museum

Location	Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India

Siddhagiri Gramjivan Museum (Kaneri Math) at Kaneri, Kolhapur district, Maharashtra, is a sculpture museum. The full name is Siddhagiri Gramjivan (Village life) Museum. It is situated at Shri Kshetra Siddhagiri Math, a campus built around the Moola-Kaadsiddheswar Shiva temple.

Museum description

This museum showcases different aspects of Gramjivan (village life). Gram means village and jivan means life in the Marathi language. This initiative was the dream of Mahatma Gandhi, and was created through the vision and efforts of Siddhagiri Gurukul Foundation. The history of self-sufficient village life in Maharshtra, before the invasion of the Mughals, is depicted in the form of cement sculptures. Each sculpture is lifelike and represents activities performed in daily village life. There were 12 Balutedars (essentially artisan castes), and 18 Alutedars who provided equipment to carry out domestic and professional tasks.

The museum is spread over 7 acres (28,000 m²), and the surrounding countryside is beautiful, with lush greenery. Every aspect of village life has been depicted in almost 80 scenes that showcase more than 300 statues.

Village scenes

The scenes of village life include:

• Village priest’s abode. The first scene is the house of a highly educated village priest. He performs his duties, rites and rituals like weddings and thread ceremonies, and is tasked to find auspicious days and times for any major activity such as house-building and house-warming activities, digging wells, sowing seeds, piercing nose or ears. He earns his livelihood from Dakshina (donations) he receives. He consults the Panchaang (almanac) for finding auspicious dates.
• Goldsmith at work
• Ironsmith shoeing a bullock
• Barber shop
• Village well - villagers fetching water from the public well.
• Nursing an elder family member
• Grocer’s shop - a woman visiting the grocery shop with her son. The shop-keeper is weighing items in an old weighing machine. Items like jaggery, sugar, chillies, salt, wheat, and rice are stocked. The son is asking his mother to buy kites for him.
• Farmer’s wada (house)
• House of Vaidya
• Grandma stitching a godhadi (quilt)
• Farmers ploughing his farm using a bullock-drawn plow
• Shepherd boy with his herd of sheep
• Villagers performing Bhajan and Kirtan (singing Hindu devotional songs)

Shiva temple

The museum has an old Shiva temple on the grounds. It is related to the Inchegeri Sampradaya, to which Nisargadatta Maharaj belongs. It is believed that a Shivling was installed by a Lingayat Priest on a beautiful hill in the 14th century. About 500 years ago, a Lingayat Priest, Shree Kadsiddheshwar Maharaj, developed and renovated it, and hence the place is now known by his name. The temple includes a 125 feet (38 m)-deep well, a 42 feet (13 m) Shiva idol, and a large Nandi bull.

External links

• Siddhagiri Museum
• Shri Kshetra Siddhagiri Math
• Kaneri Math
• Gramjivan Museum (Kaneri Math)