Museum News & Updates
UPDATE ON THE SHIVAJI MAHARAJ MUSEUM OF INDIAN HISTORY – FEBRUARY 2023
The month of February started very intensely for us: on the 3rd of February, we had a five hour pooja and homa to install our new Prana Pratishtha of Maa Tulija Bhawani Deity at the Bhawani Temple.
This will make our Bharat Matha Shrine the only temple in India that houses two Deities of Bhawani in different forms.
On the 4th February, we inaugurated our second Women Warrior Pavilion (click here), in the company of Sri Shashi Desai of Mauritius, who has given some donation.
This Pavilion has an exhibition on Ahilyabai Holkar
On the 5th February, HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar performed a special pooja on the Bhawani Mata, and visited the museum. He remained for about 45 minutes (click here), but Namrita and her friends, such as our painter Mrs Anjali Hugay (who did the Jijamata exhibition) or our architect, Mrs Sheetal Harpale, spent a great part of the day buying flowers, cleaning and decorating the temple and the museum, as well as drawing kolams on the floors.
The Museum expansion is going on: we are continuing the building of the Vijayanagar exhibition hall, and also have different painters working on four new exhibitions : Rani Durgavati (who fought the Moghols) ; Rani Akhabat (who fought the Portuguese) ; a second exhibition on Shivaji Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (who had already more than 60 paintings) ; and, of course, the glorious Vijayanagar empire history.
Our expenses have increased: we have about 2 lakhs Rupees (approximately 2500 US Dollars) monthly salaries and recurring expenses (electricity, water, etc…) ; and we need, for both the exhibitions and the development of the museum, around 33 lakhs Rupees (approximately 40 000 US Dollars)
As you know, we have both US and Indian Tax exemption, and this museum remains a sewa project, as Namrita and myself give it our free time, and do not take any salary from the donations.
If you wish to donate in Indian Rupees, below are the account details :
Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism (FACT) / account number : 04071450000237
IFCS code: HDFC0000407
If you prefer to donate in US Dollars, you can send an email to our FACT USA coordinator, Mrs Chandrakala Kamath : gr8sage1@aol.com She will guide you on how to get 501C
For any other query, send me an email : fgautier@rediffmail.com
Namaste,
François and Namrita Gautier
UPDATE ON THE SHIVAJI MAHARAJ MUSEUM OF INDIAN HISTORY – 1 JULY 2022
CHATTRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ JAYANTI CELEBRATIONS
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
We are commissioning a series of exhibitions on Hindu women warriors of India:
Rani Chennama
Rani Of Jhansi
Rudrama Devi.
Rani Mangammal.
Rani Velu Nachiyar.
Chand Bibi.
Abbakka Rani.
Tarabai.
Bibi Dalair Kaur.
The Rani Kittur Chennama exhibition is well on the way (photo). We will exhibit 15 paintings when I do a talk on Indian History in Nehru Planetarium on 26th January next in Mumbai. I should be able to put the full exhibition in Museum by April next year
The Tarabai exhibition has also started. There are 9 paintings already done and I will have to pay a visit to Udaipur soon to meet with historians and painters
I am starting a new building in the Museum to house the Kittur Chennama Exhibit.
Our new Shivaji Maharaj exhibition is also now focussing on women. Here the latest painting of Shivaji Maharaj worshipping Tulja Bhavani Mata.
We have more and more students visiting
I am continuing my work as a journalist and a writer and publishing end of the year/beginning next year,
An Entirely New History of India (Garuda Books)
A book on Kashmir in French
Hindu Power in the 21st century (Har Anand, New Delhi)
An Encyclopaedia on Ayurveda (French April 2020)
A biography of Amrita Anandamayi (French October 2020)
We need your help as we depend entirely on donations. FACT is a registered trust with income tax exemption. If you wish to make a donation, you can do it online (details below) and send a mail to fgautier@rediffmail.com so that your children may learn about their true history.
Thanking you
Namrita & François Gautier / Trustees FACT
Indian bank account details
Name of account:
Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism (FACT)
Account No: 04071450000237
IFCS code: HDFC0000407
Bank Address:
HDFC Bank Ltd.
T S No.6, 100 Feet Road
Ellaipillaichavadi
Pondicherry-605 005.
Telephone: 0413 2206044
Fax : 0413 2200662
SCHOOL CHILDRENS VISIT
Dear friends,
These are photos of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Museum of Indian History taken today. As you may know, entrance of the Museum is free and it’s a sewa project that my wife Namrita and I have undertaken – and it’s often been a rocky and tough road. We need your help as we depend entirely on donations. FACT is a registered trust with income tax exemption. If you wish to make a donation, you can do it online (details below) and send a mail to fgautier@rediffmail.com so that your children may learn about their true history.
Thanking you
Namrita & François Gautier / Trustees FACT
Indian bank account details
Name of account:
Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism (FACT)
Account No: 04071450000237
IFCS code: HDFC0000407
Bank Address:
HDFC Bank Ltd.
T S No.6, 100 Feet Road
Ellaipillaichavadi
Pondicherry-605 005.
Telephone: 0413 2206044
Fax : 0413 2200662