The oldest museum in Gujarat, founded in 1877 by Maharao Khengarji, it has the largest existing collection of Kshatrapa inscriptions, dating to the 1st century AD, as well as examples of the extinct Kutchi script (now the language is mostly written in the Gujarati alphabets) and an interesting collection of coins (including the kori, Kutch’s local currency.) A section of the museum is devoted to tribal cultures, with many examples of ancient artifacts, folk arts and crafts and information about tribal peoples. The museum also has exhibits of embroidery, paintings, arms, musical instruments, sculpture and precious metalwork.
A visit to the Kutch Museum, to learn about the history of tribal and folk tradition of the district, will help you get to know about present-day people and their lives. Remember that visiting a museum is a great way to learn about history, but tribals are not merely part of history, they are a major part of Kutch’s (and India’s) population and cultural identity today. Try to visit people’s homes and families; a visit to a museum and a conversation with a real human being are not mutually exclusive, they are complementary, and if anything, the latter is the most important of all.
