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India retrieves 29 stolen artefacts from Australia ahead of Modi-Morrison meet
The artefacts retrieved from Australia include Shiva Bhairava, a 9th-10th century CE sandstone sculpture from Rajasthan and the child-saint Sambandar, a 12th century CE bronze statute from Tamil Nadu among others.
NEW DELHI: India has retrieved 29 pieces of centuries old stolen artefacts from Australia and Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed them on Monday ahead of his virtual meet with his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison, officials said.
PM Modi and PM Morrison held a virtual summit today where they reviewed the progress on various initiatives under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and Australia.
The retrieval of artefacts came as part of India’s ongoing effort to get back stolen heritage sculptures and paintings from other nations, officials said.
“The process kicked into motion the moment the authorities were made aware that the artefacts were purchased by Australia. It took almost a year to repatriate these stolen artefacts,” an official familiar with the matter said. “These were received by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) last week.”
The artefacts returned include Shiva Bhairava, a 9th - 10th century CE sandstone sculpture from Rajasthan, the child-saint Sambandar, a 12th century CE bronze statute from Tamil Nadu and a painting of Shiva and Parvati from 1830-40, belonging to Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. Some of these artefacts went missing over 53 years ago.
A total of 241 such antiquities have been recovered since 1972; 228 of these in the last eight years from the UK, Singapore, Germany, Canada the US and Australia. Of these, 157 artefacts have been brought back from the US.
Three more have been retrieved by Indian authorities in Italy, UK and Australia and will be received by the country in the coming week, the official mentioned above added.
These include a 500-year-old statute of Hanuman from Australia, the sculpture of Avalokiteshwara Padamapani from Italy and Yogini idol from UK. “Avalokiteshwara Padamapani idol went missing from the country’s most important Buddhist pilgrimage sites, the Devisthan Kundalpur Temple in Bihar more than two decades ago. The statue depicts Buddha holding the stem of a blossoming lotus in his left hand, with two female attendants below his feet. It was sculpted for the temple sometime between the eighth and 12th centuries,” the official said.
With the Antiquity and Art Treasures Act of 1972, the Archaeological Survey of India has been tasked with preventing theft and illegal export and regulating the domestic trade of antiquities. They also retrieve artefacts listed as stolen and known to reside in other nations.
“Many of the artefacts repatriated today were stolen by the infamous art dealer Subhash Kapoor,” the official said. Kapoor, an Indian American art dealer, was convicted in 2019 for running an international art smuggling racket.
ASI is also working on a plan to put the artefacts on display. Many of the retrieved treasures are now housed in the Gallery of Retrieved and Confiscated Antiquities at the Purana Qila in New Delhi.
