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During Modi's visit, the US will return 297 antiquities stolen or smuggled from India, some dating back to 2000 BC.

New Delhi: After months of investigation and negotiations, 297 antiques from India will soon be on their way home. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-day visit to the US from September 21 to 24, the US side facilitated the return of the antiques, which “stolen” from or “traded” from India, a opinion The document released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Sunday said the government had violated intellectual property rights.

“In a symbolic handover, a few select pieces were presented to the Prime Minister and President Biden on the sidelines of their bilateral meeting in Wilmington, Delaware,” the MEA statement said.

The process of returning antiques takes months and requires a detailed exchange of information.

“The embassy or consulate, on the advice of the Archaeological Survey of India, starts negotiations to share documents and photographs from the ancient world to prove that the object belongs to our country. This is followed by discussions. Then the antiques are returned,” says Dr Sanjib Kumar Singh, senior archaeologist and museologist at the National Museum in New Delhi. said ThePrint.

These antiques are a mix of those returned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or Met, in New York, and those seized by U.S. authorities and held by the New York Attorney General's office.

“Deepening cultural ties and strengthening the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property,” Modi wrote on X.

Antiquities date back to 2000 BC

The antiques date back nearly 4,000 years – from 2000 BC to 1900 AD – and come from different parts of India. Most of them are terracotta artifacts from eastern India, while others are made of stone, metal, wood and ivory and come from different parts of the country.

A key figure associated with the arrival of these artifacts in the United States is I am Subhash Kapur. He ran an art gallery in the country, and from 2011 to 2022, investigations by the New York District Attorney and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security resulted in the seizure of 2,500 items smuggled by him and his network.

The value of the artifacts was estimated at over $143 million. Of these, 307 antiques worth $4 million were to be returned to India.

Some of the Notable items included in the list a apsara made of sandstone from Central India (10th-11th century AD), a Jain Tirthankar made of bronze from Central India (15th-16th century AD) and the Hindu god Vishnu made of bronze from Eastern India (17th-18th century AD).

Many of the items also turned out to be inventory pieces of the Met, which announced in 2023 that it would return 15 of them to India.

Among them is a terracotta from the 1st century BC. Subscribe from West Bengal, a bronze sculpture of the god Revanta returning from hunting (10th century AD) and a parikara (back plate) were important antiques.

“Last month, in light of new provenance information, we returned 16 works to India, including the Celestial Dancer, a sculpture that has enchanted visitors for decades,” said museum director Max Hollein in a Opinion.

These items have now been officially handed over as part of the 297 antiques.

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How to return antiques

The handover and return of artifacts such as those handed over by President Biden is based on India's Antiquities and Art Treasures Act of 1972.

Antiquities must be properly identified, registered and recorded to ensure their safety. Recording refers to the number assigned to an artifact or data for permanent storage and curation in a collecting facility.

The other challenge is the gap between the “official” records of an artifact’s loss and its appearance in overseas markets or in the catalogs of museums like the Met.

In cases of theft from smaller temples, the official route of establishing all the details and then tracing the treasures to markets around the world is very time-consuming.

“These smugglers often target items that cannot be found outside India or are only found in the region, such as joginior statues of various gods. These become extremely valuable both in terms of their monetary value and cultural significance,” Sanjib Kumar, spokesperson of the National Museum New Delhi, told ThePrint.

Thanks to the efforts of the Indian government, at least some of them were returned.

“The return of the antiquities is of course part of diplomacy, but either way it is a big moment for India's cultural heritage,” Kumar added.

(Edited by Radifah Kabir)

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