The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) has planned the launch of various academic initiatives under the Dr Devangana Desai Endowment Programme. This step is undertaken to promote the study of Indian art and history.
Dr Devangana Desai is on the Board of Trustees at the CSMVS. She is an art historian who specializes in ancient and medieval art. She had also sponsored the re-organization of the Indian Sculpture Gallery at the CSMVS.
Junior and senior scholarships for research, a three-day course on art history every two years at the museum and the annual Dr Devangana Desai Endowment Lecture will be the main plans for this programme. The institute has indulged a corpus of 1.10 crore rupees for this initiative.
The program is being initiated in order to encourage research and disseminate the study of ancient, medieval and pre-modern Indian art, history, architecture, archaeology and culture.
Vandana Prapanna, senior curator, said, “The museum will award one each of the junior and senior scholarships every year. The aim is to promote serious research and scholarship on these subjects.”