Nomadic Mom: A Visit to the National Museum

Thursday, March 05, 2009

A Visit to the National Museum

This post is backdated to the 18th of February, 2009.
Went for a short tour of the National Museum with the Explorer's Group. I've recently joined this group in order to visit/tour the city that has been my home for the last 2 1/2 years. As this might be our last year here, thought that I ought to know a little bit more!

I'm NO museum girl...but with a tour, it can be quite interesting.

The museum guides on this day are all expat volunteers who had devoted a couple of months of their time to be trained as museum guides.

I'm told that this National Museum has the largest collection of antiquities in SEA (a surprising fact!). Didn't take too many photos....but here are some.

Open Courtyard in the Old Wing

Statue of Ganesha

(According to the guide, Ganesha was the child of the Hindu God Shiva and his wife Parvati. He was born with a human head and body. Shiva had gone away and did not know that he had a son. One day, Parvati wanted a bath and asked Ganesha to guard the doorway so that no intruders could enter. Shiva returned unexpected, and not knowing that Ganesha was his son, cut off his head. When he found out the truth, he vowed to use the head of the next living thing that passed-by to replace Ganesha's. Turns out that an elephant was the first living thing that passed-by. That's why Ganesha has an elephant head)

Statue of Kala (not sure of spelling)

(Kala was the humble servant of Shiva. One day, Shiva was meditating and told Kala to be on guard, and not to disturb him. But halfway through, a demon appeared. Kala had to awaken his master. Shiva was furious that Kala had disturbed his meditation and punished Kala by asking him to eat himself up. Kala, being the humble and loyal servant proceeded to eat himself ...starting from his feet up. When he reached his face, Shiva realised that Kala was trying to protect him from the demon. Thus, he decided to bestow Kala the honour of the guardian of temples. That is why, the image of Kala is always at the entryway of a Hindu Temple)

Sorry lah....if you ask me, I think Shiva is rather quick-tempered. And like ALL men, refused to ask question and clarify matters first before losing his temper and doing something silly....

Statue of Parvati - Front