Stone age idols to vintage cars, this museum has them all

Mangaluru: The new, more spacious ‘Manjusha Museum,’ which was inaugurated at the Kshetra Dharmasthala on Wednesday, houses Dharmadhikari Dr Veerendra Heggade’s private collection of about five decades and thousands of ancient artefacts.

Located about 200 meters from the famous  Manjunatha Swami temple, the museum’s priceless artefacts are a huge attraction for the people who visit Dharmasthala. Its new 1.04 lakh sq feet building will have on display about 8,000 unique artefacts ranging from stone age weapons to musical instruments, pooja utensils, chariots, radios, idols and even movie projectors when it opens for open for public viewing late November.

“When I took over as the Dharmadhikari 50 years ago, I saw that the old items of the temple were preserved in a room for their historical and cultural importance. I decided to give the collection a new touch and that’s how the museum was born,” Dr Veerendra Heggade explains.

To begin with, the entire collection was displayed in the ‘Glass House’ at Beedu, Dr Heggade’s ancestral house. The locals too volunteered to donate old objects in their possession to the museum, which bought a few more from others. Inscribed pillars, palm leaf manuscripts, furniture and weapons were collected from religious institutions, individuals, temples, goldsmiths and craftsmen from Uttara Kannada, Shimoga, and Hassan districts.

As the museum’s collection grew, Dr Heggade decided to build a new two- storied spacious structure to display them better.  

“Our museum reflects the changes that have taken place over the years and how much we have progressed. It is an effort to preserve our unique culture and tradition,” Dr Heggade adds, revealing that over one lakh students visit it every year.