BHOPAL: Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya has displayed, Thoni, a wooden grain bin on its social media platforms. The event, which began on Monday, is part of first Exhibit of the Week of November.
The museum collected large barrel-shaped grain bin in 1999 from rural community of Kollam, Kerala. The length and width of wooden bin are 258 cm and 94 cm respectively while its sphericity is 302 cm.
Museum director Praveen Kumar Mishra said Thoni is a large barrel-shaped grain bin carved out of a single log of wood of a local species known as anjili. It has an opening on top with a rigid wooden flap. Earlier, similar wooden bins were used to store food grains in rural Kerala.
Museum assistant keeper Sudeepa Roy said the bin is used especially by financially sound families to store grains for a long time and protect them from insects, rodents, birds, and thieves.
The bin is generally kept in storeroom to secure storage of food and edibles. With imposition of strict forest policies, cutting off the tree is prevented and considered an unlawful activity. It has been is replaced by relatively smaller bins made of wood and other materials.
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