Turn back the clock: Visitors walking about the museum in Macalister Road, Penang. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: In the early 1800s in an Indian household, women would sit on the floor with an aruvamanai (vegetable cutter) made of iron cutting vegetables.
Today, this is no longer in practice, and seeing an iron aruvamanai dating back to 1810 is nearly impossible.
However, at the Penang Indian Heritage Museum, which has 2,600 pieces of Indian heritage artefacts on display, one would be able to see the aruvamanai along with other items dating back to the early 1800s.
It is as though time stood still for those visiting the museum, which opened in May 2018.
Museum curator J. Prakash, who owns the collection, said items in his collection include a 7kg brass tiffin carrier with a 19th century charcoal heater.
“The oldest would be the vegetable cutter which was made around 1810. We know this because of the pattern carved onto it.
“It was a common pattern during that period. Patterns and carvings are what usually give us the time stamp of the artefact,” he said when met at the museum located along Macalister Road.
While the pieces are from his own private collection, Prakash said he had always wanted to have them displayed.
In 2018, he collaborated with the Penang Hindu Endowment Board, which provided the space for the museum and fully maintains it.
Prakash said the museum is divided into portions, with one showcasing the origins of the Indian community in Malaysia.
“We have old passports, currency, luggage and other trinkets. Then there is a section on the Malaysian independence.
“Then it comes to the section showcasing the many professions of the Indian community, including money lenders, rubber tappers and barbers.”
An entire barbershop set-up is among the artefacts on display.
“We then have a lifestyle section depicting what an Indian household would have looked like in the 1930s, including kitchenware, a hall setting, and family photos from back then,” Prakash said.
“We also featured a section which is a tea shop with all the brass fixtures, and an old cinema projector from 1960s that is still functioning.”
He said that during the school holidays, the museum receives up to 300 visitors daily, and at other times, between 75 and 100 visitors.
“All our artefacts are sourced locally, and I get most of the items from Perak, Penang and Selangor,” he added.
