Three ancient gods meet in London, with a little help from Mumbai

Time of India

10-05-2025

Three ancient gods—rarely seen side by side—are now quietly holding court at the
in London.
from India,
from Egypt, and
from the Roman-Greek world stand together in a compelling new display.
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They received some help finding their voice from a team thousands of kilometres away in Mumbai.As part of an ongoing global partnership between the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) and the British Museum, this London showcase builds on last year's landmark 'Ancient Sculptures: India, Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome' exhibition at CSMVS.
This exhibition posed fresh questions about the divine, beauty, and nature. The London exhibit picks up where it left off and takes those conversations to a wider global audience.The result is a small but compelling display co-curated by Joyoti Roy, assistant director (projects and public relations), and Vaidehi Savnal, curator (education and public programmes) of CSMVS, alongside Thorsten Opper of the British Museum. "From amongst the objects loaned by the British Museum for the exhibition in Mumbai, Dionysos and Sekhmet were most apt," say Roy and Savnal. "They are shining examples of sculptural traditions in their respective regions. To this mix, we added a beautiful sculpture of Vishnu from the Pallava period, which exemplifies some of the principles of Indian iconography and sculptural tradition." Together, the trio of sculptures go beyond the usual textbook comparisons of how different ancient societies imagined their gods.As Savnal puts it, "We explored how different cultures represented the human form, used animal features symbolically, or dressed their gods."The cross-institutional project was not just a long-distance handover. "After a few virtual meetings, our team travelled to London to view the sculptures in person," Savnal recalls. "We worked closely with the British Museum team on every detail—layout of the gallery, object placement, wall colours, graphic design, fonts, and even the choice of languages."What is also special about the exhibit is that it's bilingual in English and Hindi. This method—what they refer to as global co-curation—invites curators from different parts of the world to ask new questions of familiar objects and to rethink how stories are told. "Unlike Egypt and Greece, India's sacred sculpture tradition is still alive. That creates a different kind of engagement for both believers and non-believers," says Roy.It's a way of seeing that values curiosity over chronology. Instead of leading with history or academic context, the team started with what a visitor might instinctively wonder. "Why do Greek gods wear slippers? Why do Indian gods have so many heads and hands?" they ask. Many of these questions came up naturally during conversations between Indian and international curators, who were often looking at unfamiliar material for the first time.That sense of exchange shapes the heart of the display. "We felt it was our responsibility to do three things. First, help visitors identify and acknowledge these sculptures as gods. Second, help them understand how these images were revered in other cultures. And third, show what's similar or different when seen beside Indian divine images," says Savnal.But how does this kind of partnership rebalance how stories of the ancient world are told? "For the last ten years or so, under the museum's director general Sabyasachi Mukherjee's leadership, the museum has been working hard to bring world art to Mumbai," says Roy. "We've made it happen through long-term—and often quite complex—partnerships with leading museums around the world." That effort, she adds, has made sure Indian audiences, especially in Mumbai, aren't left out of the global art conversation. "Most of these objects may still be in Western museums, but CSMVS has gone all out to bring important exhibitions here," she says. "It's taken serious fundraising, involvement of specialists, and the entire museum staff to make it happen."Their aim, the curators say, has always been to let audiences experience original world art up close because seeing the real thing, they believe, is what truly "transforms their understanding of world history." After all, as they put it, "Digital images alone can never do justice."