In 2021, Professor Dhaneshwar Mandal and his daughter Vaishali Mandal donated MAE (Kunstkamera) RAS a valuable familial collection comprised of a gala saree and a jewellery set made in traditional West Bengal style. Gold ornament pieces made according to the fashion of Bengal in the early 20th century were ordered as a gift for Mrs. Bela Rani Bose (maternal grandmother of Vaishali) by her husband Mr. Shishir Kumar Bose on the occasion of birth of their eldest daughter Basanti in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Later, Basanti received this jewellery set from her parents as a wedding gift. Over the time, this familial collection was inherited by Vaishali.
Basanti Bose Mandal (1947–2019) acquired her Master’s degree from Allahabad University and later, worked as social science teacher at a primary school. Unfortunately, she passed away while visiting St. Petersburg in 2019. Her urn is buried in the Pavlovsk cemetery. (Pavlovsk is a suburb of St. Petersburg.)
Dhaneshwar Mandal (b.1933), husband of Basanti, born in Jamalpur (Bihar), professor of the department of Ancient History Culture and Archaeology of Allahabad University, participated in many archaeological excavations, authored a number of scientific articles as well as brochures in Hindi devoted to social topics. His biographical memoir Safarnama portraying life in the Soviet Union in the 1980s has been translated into Russian. Their daughter Vaishali Mandal studied medicine at Zaporozhye Medical Institute and later did her PhD in medicine from St. Petersburg Medical Academy for Postgraduate Studies. Also, she is the editor of the children Hindi magazine Indradhanush published in association with St. Petersburg Rabindranath Tagore Hindi secondary school No 653. By donating a familial jewellery and saree set to MAE (Kunstkamera) RAS the Mandal family emphasise their wish to further strengthen the cultural ties between two great countries.