Central Museum, Indore

The Central Museum in Indore began in 1923 as part of the Nararatna Mandir educational institution under the Holkar ruler Tukoji Rao III, and was first housed on M.G. Road. It moved to its present site at Navlakha, near GPO Square, in 1965 after the state government took charge. It now has eight galleries of sculpture, inscriptions, coins and other artefacts.

Much of the sculpture comes from Hinglajgarh fort in Mandsaur district, covering Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakta, Jain and Buddhist imagery from the 4th to the 18th century. Other galleries show Chalcolithic finds from sites such as Kayatha and Navadatoli, coins from punch-marked issues to the Holkar period, weapons from the Maratha era to British rule, paintings including Bagh replicas, and a stone inscription of the Rashtrakuta king Nannap dated 710 AD.