This exhibition, a careful selection of antiquities from the Museum of Indian Art, Berlin, is as such exhibitions are, a source of delight and stimulation. Once again, it is an opportunity to look at and ponder the great heritage of Indian art wonder at the lofty artistic accomplishments of our ancestors and to develop a deeper understanding of the aesthetic efforts of our time. The wide array of artifacts restates the fact that visual arts were one of the major channels of Indian artistic expression. And made well prior to the age of mechanical reproduction, they areunique and distinct, specifically designed, that might even find use in the domestic or ceremonial.

The skillful presentation of complex ideas reveal amongst others the clearly underlying artistic canons of Indian origin. For us today these convey cultural information and become vehicles for communication with our artistic traditions.

After The Enduring Image, this exhibition becomes another journey across time and is as enjoyable as informative. The exhibits range from sculptures belonging to the 2 BC to 19th century Indian paintings. And originate from virtually the whole subcontinent. Early terracotta figurines, striking sculptures in stone, bronze, miniature paintings and exquisite jade, all reveal the abundant richness in the texture and flavour of Indian art. The rarest display is a Mauryan figurine found at Mathura. There are also pieces from Chandraketugarh, when the Sunga dynasty was in power. Being shown for the first time outside Germany, these exhibits were carefully selected by RaffaelGadebusch (whose specialisation is Islamic art), and Marianne Yaldiz, curators to the exhibition.

The exhibits on display are `masterpieces' from the 15,000-odd collection at the Museum of Indian Art, Berlin that was founded in 1963 with collections from the Berlin Ethnological Museum. Scholarly interest in Indian art, religion, languages and philosophy kindled by Max Mueller, has resulted in the acquisition of several important collections that are on permanent display at the Museum.

Professor Dr Wolf-Dieter Dube, director general, Staalliche Museum Preuschischer Kulturbeisitz Berlin, in India at the inauguration of the museum, carefully chooses his words while talking about the provenance of the works. Excavations undertaken as late as 1966 to '74 by the museum, undertaken with the Indian government at Mount Sonhk, near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, he cites as an example -- explaining the pottery belonging to 50 BC. Indian antiques repeatedly surface on the European market, he reveals. Howeveracquisitions, he explains, are done only after strict historical and legal verification that means involving the Indian government, Indologists and historians. Most of the museum's collections incidentally have come from collections held by wealthy German families for several decades.

Travelling the exhibition was well timed since the Museum is presently under renovation. Says Dube, "Museum installations are outdated every 20 years. It can be accelerated by architectural fashions, aesthetic expectations, and even technical equipment is redundant after a 20-year period. The last renovation was in the '70s and was designed like a black box, with displays dramatically kept on black pedestals under bright focus. Now, an all new theme of white and openness will replace the earlier designs, and we are looking forward to this."

The month-long exhibition is supported by a series of dance, music and poetry events specially designed by Dr Saryu Doshi, hon director, NGMA.

Niyatee Shinde is the director of theBirla Academy of Art and Culture