Harshita Mathur, Pune
The Indian Consulate in New York repatriated up to 105 artifacts on the 17th of July, Monday. As per officials, the items have a diverse geographical provenance in India. While around 50 items are religious in nature (Hinduism, Jainism, and Islam), the remaining have cultural importance.
The items that will be returned as part of this batch date back 1,600 years, from the first century BC to the fifteenth century AD. They possess important historical and commercial importance, according to authorities, even though their exact value could not be determined. Among these priceless artifacts is a clay Yakshi plaque from the first century BC that was taken from an unidentified place in eastern India. The recovered objects also include a 10th-century Kubera from the same location as well as a 9th-century Dancing Ganesha made of red sandstone from central India. Most of these sandstone, marble, and terracotta artifacts are thought to have been illegally smuggled out of India by Subhash Kapoor, an antique dealer who is presently behind bars.
This transfer came from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visit to the United States last month wherein India and the USA committed to working towards a Cultural Property Agreement to avoid illegal trafficking of cultural objects. At the end of the meeting, t was said that this agreement will be helpful in adding to the dynamic bilateral engagement between US Homeland Security and the two nations’ law enforcement organizations. The artifacts that will return to India will reportedly be in the custody of the Archaeological Survey of India until it is decided whether they should be returned to the individual states from whence they were initially removed or displayed in ASI-run museums. Over the last several years, the Indian government has undertaken serious attempts to recover stolen Indian antiques. During Mr. Modi’s 2016 visit to the United States, the United States gave over 16 artifacts, whereas the United States handed over 157 in 2021. In 2022, US authorities formally handed up to Indian officials 307 antiques valued at approximately $4 million.
During his visit to the United States in June, the Prime Minister expressed his happiness as he stated “I am pleased that the American government has decided to return more than 100 antiquities stolen from India.”Subsequently, he added that these artifacts of Indian provenance had entered the worldwide market through legal or illegal channels, but America’s choice to return them to India demonstrated the two countries’ emotional affinity.