The Story of a Sikh Museum

The Story of a Sikh Museum examines the Bhai Mati Das Museum at Sisganj Gurdwara in Old Delhi, one of the most significant Sikh shrines in India. Unlike traditional museums, this museum is well known for its remarkable display, being entirely made up of modern history paintings rather than artifacts of historical value. This book explores the visual elements and storytelling in these paintings, and those who support their creation. These elements set the Sikh museums apart from a typical museum in both Western and South Asian contexts, defying an easy characterization. The field of museum and heritage studies, though well-established globally, has very little scholarship on India or South Asia and the politics of museums in this region has only recently been commented upon by scholars. This study would be an important entry point for a study of visual aspects of the Sikh history and history of production.