Object Number: VRM15686

Dimensions: 94 x 50 x 111 cm

Material: Wood, marble, glazed ceramic tile

Find Location: Rajshahi, Rajshahi District, Bangladesh

Date: 19th Century CE

This table belonged to Mr Kumar Saratkumar Ray (1876-1946), one of the three founders of the Varendra Research Museum. He was a member of the Dighapatia Raj dynasty, whose zamandari estates covered much of Natore. Concerned with the promotion of education and culture, these pioneers created an institution that could explore, protect and display the ancient past of Varendra, an area that historically incorporated much of northern Bengal.

The three individuals established the Varendra Research Society in 1910, and supported the survey and excavation of sites, including Paharpur.  Following an exhibition of objects in Rajshahi’s Public Library in 1912, it became clear that the Society needed a space in which their collections could be permanently displayed to the public. A new museum was opened on the 27th November 1919 designed in the Indo-Saracenic style. It combines western neo-Classical and Gothic styles with South Asian Rajput, Mughal and Islamic design - a style adopted for many of the zamindars’ Rajbari palaces.

The desk that Mr Ray used as Museum Director similarly blends traditions from South Asia and Europe. It combines local timber with imported marble and features blue glazed tiles with fish motifs. The Varendra Research Museum still bears Mr Ray’s influence as his foundation stone lies embedded in the museum’s east entrance. Mr Kumar Saratkumar Ray’s desk is also a direct link between him, and his fellow founders, with the present. It is a connection to their intellectual drive and commitment to develop a collection that could explore the history of ancient and medieval Bengal. Their foresight allows the Varendra Research Museum to be a centre of research, learning as well as an asset for the public, and the objects in its collections allow for histories of Bangladesh to be told.