Assam to soon house Vrindavani Vastra from the British Museum for a limited period

JSW Group began this process by connecting the Assam government with the British Museum authorities. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma even visited London to initiate the process of bringing back the revered Vrindavani Vastra from the British Museum, where they agreed to lend the article for 18 months if the Assam government could construct a museum according to the required environmental standards. JSW Group has taken up the responsibility to build a museum in Guwahati where the drape woven by 16th-century Assamese weavers will be kept on display.

The Vrindavani Vastra, a significant piece of India's cultural and textile heritage, large silk tapestry woven in Assam, India, in the 16th century. It visually depicts scenes from the Bhagavata Purana, primarily illustrating the leelas of Lord Krishna during his childhood in Vrindavan. It was created under the guidance and spiritual supervision of the great Vaishnavite saint-reformer, Srimanta Sankardeva (1449–1568) and his disciple, Madhavdeva, at the request of the Koch King Nara Narayan and his brother, Chilarai. The textile was woven using the highly complex Lampas technique on a draw-loom, a double-layered silk weave that required exceptional skill.

It is a central piece of the Ekasarana Dharma (Neo-Vaishnavism) movement started by Sankardeva in Assam. Since this faith discouraged idol worship, the Vastra became a powerful medium for visual storytelling and devotion, often used to cover the sacred altar (Simhasana) in the community prayer halls (Namghars). The original pieces travelled from Assam, through Bhutan and eventually to Tibet, where fragments were repurposed as hangings in a Buddhist monastery.

Fragments of history

Later, in the early 20th century, a large section was acquired by a British correspondent and donated to the British Museum in London. For decades, it was misidentified as Tibetan silk until its true Assamese origin was established by a curator in 1992. The British Museum fragment even includes woven verses from one of Sankardeva's devotional plays, Kaliyadamana.

The largest and most famous fragments of the original Vrindavani Vastra are scattered in museums across the world, including: The British Museum, London; Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London; Musée Guimet, Paris; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); The British Museum's piece, which is over 9 meters long and stitched from 12 original strips, is currently the largest surviving example.

Homecoming in 2027

The Assam government, led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the British Museum in November 2025 to bring the Vrindavani Vastra back to Assam on a temporary loan. The specific piece to be loaned is the British Museum's fragment, catalogued as As1905,0118.4, which is one of the largest surviving sections of the 16th-century textile. The planned exhibition period is for approximately 18 months, starting in 2027.

The Chief Minister and many Assamese people view this temporary return as a deeply emotional and historic moment, often describing it as the homecoming of an ancestor, as generations have known about the sacred textile only through stories and scriptures.

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