Siddhagiri museum,Kaneri,Kolhapur. Mah

Siddhagiri Gramjivan Museum (Kaneri Math) at Kaneri near Kolhapur,Maharashtra is a unique museum,probably the only one of its kind in India. The museum is called ‘Siddhagiri Gramjivan (Village life) Museum’.Around 400 km south of Mumbai.Children studying gurukul style in the shade of a tree, farmers having lunch in the fields, cowherds milking their cows...The scene is that of a typical Indian village -- yet not a soul stirs.

This museum showcases different aspects of Gramjivan (village life). ‘Gram’ means ‘village’ and ‘jivan’ means ‘life’ in Marathi language. This initiative was dream project of Mahatma Gandhi, visually and symbolically created through the vision and efforts of Siddheshwar Trust. The history of self-sufficient village life before the invasion of Mughals in Maharshtra is depicted here in the form of sculptures.Each sculpture is life-like and has a multi dimensional effect and lifestyle theme.
Unlike Madame Tussauds where wax is the main material, all the 1,000-plus images at Siddheshwar Museum have been made of rocks and bricks, stuffed with wire gauze. The images were shaped with wet cement by nearly 80 skilled masons. After the cement dried and solidified, a team of around 60 artists took over with a battery of colours. The bare minimum lighting used enhances the effects to present a natural appearance.Despite the extreme hot, cold and rainy conditions in southern Maharashtra,the museum images have withstood the ravages of the climate in the past two years since it was set up.

The museum is spread over 7 acres area and has almost 80 scenes which showcase more than 300 statues. The surrounding countryside is beautiful and is surrounded with lush greenery. Every aspect of village life has been depicted in this museum. It is a perfect blend of fact, powerful imagination and enormous hard work in getting the life-like expressions of the whole village.They painted the finest details on each subject, whether human or animal or the environment around.

There were 12 ALUTEDARS (12 main profession-based castes i.e. Professions performed from generation to generations by families) and 18 BALUTEDARS, who provided equipments to all villagers to fulfill their day-to-day necessities (domestic as well as professional).

Click here to check some the images from the place