Kuruni, a type of scraper used to remove the flesh from a coconut, different types of kerosene lanterns and bells tied around domesticated cows are some of the exhibits at Fields to Folk, an exhibition on rural heritage being held at the Indian Museum as part of its celebration of World Heritage Week.

With 20 museums participating from all over the state, Fields to Folk, which started on November 22 and ends on Friday, is a collaboration between the Kolkata Centre for Creativity (KCC), the Museum Association of West Bengal and the Indian Museum.

Household items commonly used by rural folks, such as coconut scrapers, kerosene lanterns, various items used to make paan (betel leaf) like supari cutters and paan bata, and porcelain figurines of Indian mythological characters are among the exhibits sourced from Apurba Kumar Panda’s Museum of Memories.

“I am a collector and have a collection of items that have slowly disappeared from middle-class Bengali homes. I have brought some of them to this exhibition,” said Panda.

Social anthropologist and boatman Swarup Bhattacharya is displaying three types of boats. “I am showing Chand Nouka, which is prevalent in Cox Bazar in Bangladesh. Then there is Kaile Bachhari, a racing boat from Murshidabad, and Betnai from the Sunderbans,” he said.

“Boats have territorial demarcations as they are locally made and adapted to the local waters and customs. You will not see a Chand Nouka here or a Betnai in Bangladesh,” said the anthropologist.

The archaeological department of Calcutta University has displayed protohistoric artefacts from the late second/early first millennium BCE that were excavated at Asurdanga (Birbhum). The exhibits include pottery, stone tools and other items.

“These depict the inner workings of early settlements dating from the second millennium to early first millennium BCE,” said Rajat Sanyal of the department.

From the state archives, there are 24 slides of archival records related to the archaeological heritage of rural Bengal. Among them is an account of how Danton, a village in Bengal bordering Odisha, gets its name. “A document in the state archives states that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed at Danton on his way to Puri and had probably cleaned his teeth there,” said Sumit Ghosh of the state archives.

Sholapith artefacts and utensils made of sugarcane leftovers and areca leaves from the Industrial Section in the Indian Museum, Botanical Survey of India (BSI), are on display.

Also being displayed are traditional crafts, tools and artefact from various rural and urban museums and private collections across Bengal. A photographic exploration showcases the essence of India’s rural heritage.

The participating museums include rural and urban museums of Bengal and Sheikh Noor-ud din Noorani Museum of Heritage under Jammu University.