Art gallery
BRONZE ART GALLERY
The bronze work of Kangra is of both classical and post classical period. It showcases a variety of bronze produce of Bharmour and Chatrarhi in the technique of cire perdu (or lost wax process) and their finest execution in metal art of asthadhatu. The bronze image of Fathepur Buddha (6th century) though portable is now in the Lahore Museum and the Swachanda Bhairavi now in the collection of National Museum indicate that a very high class of metal workmanship was produced in this region. The family deity of the Katoch rulers of Kangra was the mother goddess Ambika; a bronze image of exquisite workmanship which was later stolen from the Kangra fort. Also on display in the museum are small bronze objects of household worship. Some of these images are from the temples where they served as duplicates for the larger ones and came in handy for a number of odd jobs like where the larger image had to take biath (abhisheka) move out in procession.The folk bronze objects are larger in number and have evolved out of the classical ones possibly after 12-13th century. They mostly represent the cult of Mahsihasuramardini. This cult is a small icon of the goddess standing in warrior like posture and annihilating the demon on display. Other bronze artifacts’ of Hindu python are also on display.
