neil macgregor author of the history of the world in 100 objects and former director of the british museum was in mumbai recently to deliver the sir ratan tata centenary commemorative lecture at the chhatrapati shivaji maharaj vastu sangrahalaya the 72yearold who currently heads berlins humboldt forum spoke with warmth and wit about museums memories and identities his overarching theme was the great transition in the usp of museums being witnessed around the world over the past 30 years earlier for three centuries museums were seen as centres of archaeology and art history places where objects were stored researched and displayed for public delight a new dimension has now emerged museums have become places where memories of different communities are celebrated and where public history is sought to be examined and rewritten the resultant potential clash of narratives poses yet another challenge to global harmony which he argued museums now need to address urgently after his talk macgregor spoke to toi excerptsq your recent book living with the gods talks about how western europe after centuries of conflict has almost abandoned the notion of a state being defined by one shared faith since the 18th century it has moved steadily instead towards emperor ashokas inclusive principles in contrast you said it would be ironic if india herself were to move at this moment in the opposite direction please elaboratea as i said india is a place where the worlds major faiths are practised side by side in greater numbers than anywhere else in the world such unity in diversity is the result not only of a long habit of tolerance but also of a very indian form of secularism the latter in turn is due to what the economist amartya sen calls the principle of equidistance rather than negating faith and religion such evenhandedness implies that there should not be state favouritism of any one religion over another this i think is the best way to peacefully govern so large a country with so many religions and beliefswhen europeans first consciously engaged with modern india in the time of moghul emperor akbar what was the great surprise what was the thing they most admired it was precisely the fact that despite being a muslim he was able to respect honour and support other religions and other traditions now europe couldnt do this they could only think of a unitary state akbars political priority was to foster an informed religious pluralism europeans saw this as a model of how you ran a complex state as they became more familiar with india later that admiration was transferred to ashoka the buddhist emperor had ruled his state with equidistant respect for all the others religions practised in his realmsvery interestingly when the british took over india in 1858 queen victorias proclamation insisted that there would be no interference with the religious belief or worship of any of her subjects coming as it did from a devoutly christian queen with an established church in