Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum

The Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum in Pune grew out of the private collection of Dr Dinkar G. Kelkar, who lived from 1896 to 1990 and named it after his only son, Raja. He began collecting around 1920; by 1984 he had about 15,000 objects. The museum opened in 1962, and in 1992 he donated everything to the state government.

It now holds more than 20,000 pieces, of which around 2,500 are on show across a three-storey building. Most are decorative objects of daily Indian life from the 18th and 19th centuries: carved door frames, vessels, ornaments in ivory, silver and gold, paintings, weapons and sculptures going back to the 14th century. The collection of musical instruments is particularly fine, and a separate wing displays old instruments from the collection of the industrialist Chandrashekhar Agashe.