Vadya Vithika - Museum of Musical Instruments

Vadya Vithika is a museum of musical instruments displaying about 300 traditional folk and tribal musical instruments of India. The museum is divided into four different sections namely, Percussion instrument (Avanadhhya Vadya), Stringed instrument (Tata Vadya), Wind instruments (Susira Vadya) and Solid instruments (Ghana Vadya). The museum has been designed and curated by Dr. Om Prakash Bharti, Director, EZCC and was inaugurated on on 31 July, 2016 by Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi, Hon’ble Governor of West Bengal and Chairman of EZCC in the presence of 20 National Awardees in the field of performing arts. The Hon’ble Governor of West Bengal marked the opening by playing Dhamsha of the Santhal community of Jharkhand. The inauguration was followed by a musical recital of Lepcha music and Baul song by Padmashree Sonam Tshering Lepcha and Padmashree Purnadas Baul respectively.

The museum represents the ideology and creative insight of community. It is considered as the important tool in writing of cultural history of marginal community and society. The Vadya Vithika not only represents the musical instruments of folk and tribal communities of eastern part of India but also across the country. EZCC has identified the rare and endangered musical instruments from its member states. The making and manipulation process has been documented and a series of films on the topic will be released shortly. Vadya Vithika is the museum with wide and variety of collections in number and quality. This undoubtedly makes it the biggest museum of musical instruments in Eastern India. The museum displays rare and variable collection from Kashmir to Southern India. Each state and community represents itself with not only the displayed musical instruments but also a detailed description of the artifacts. The community it belongs, the region of collection, the process of making, the raw materials used and the way of playing is described above each instrument as a citation in the museum. Along with the brief description, a picture of an artist playing the instrument is also displayed. This gives the spectators a clear knowledge about each traditional musical instruments.

Instruments like Bhuang of Jharkhand, Rosem of Tripura, Gusem or Rusem of Manipur, Dhak of Jharkhand, Santhal Madal, Tingteilla of Manipur, Kendra of Odisha, Ektara of Bengal, Hu-tu-tu of Tiwa community of Assam, Uddaka and Chenda of Kerela, Ksing Nakra of Meghalaya. Satsang of Lepchas, Sarinda of Rajbanshis, Mephrama, Gayling of Butia community, Narsinga of Naumati Baja, Tungna of Lepchas are of special attraction.

The section where the museum developed was initially a garage which was artistically converted to one of the richest museums in Kolkata. An average of 50 spectators daily visit Vadya Vithika and they are showing immense interest in exploring this unique museum. We have been receiving appreciable comments on the display, quality of collection and the necessary information provided about the instruments.

Presently, the museum is open from 10 am to 8 pm daily for the visitors and no charge is mandated for the entry.