India’s rich history is bejewelled with cultural artefacts that were the pride and prized possessions of rulers, kingdoms and temples until many of them were stolen and plundered by foreign conquerors. These antiques and valuable artefacts have been looted and smuggled out of the country through the centuries, with some of the well-known ones acquired by the British Empire, including the world-famous Kohinoor diamond, that sat on the crown of England’s Queen Victoria.
In recent years, however, some of these antiquities have been returned to India by countries around the world. In October last year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) in New York returned 16 works to India, including the Celestial Dancer, a sculpture that enraptured visitors for decades. Similarly, the Glasglow City Council in Scotland returned seven artefacts to India, six of which were stolen from Hindu temples and shrines in different states in India during the 19th century.
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Here are some of the historical artefacts stolen and returned:
Tipu Sultan's sword
When the East India Company seized Tipu Sultan’s capital of Srirangapatnam in 1799, among the things they seized was one of his ceremonial swords – a fine gold koftgari hilted steel sword referred to as sukhela. It was presented to Major General David Baird. The sword remained in Baird’s family for the next 204 years until they gave it up for auction in 2003. In September of that year, fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya bought it, thus making its way back to India.
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In 2018, the sword was said to have been missing after Mallya allegedly gave it away. It was later said to have been acquired by the UK-based auction house Bonhams, who have to date not revealed details about the seller who gave it to them.
In May this year, Bonhams sold the ‘Bedchamber Sword of Tipu Sultan’ to an unnamed buyer at a record-breaking sale price of 14 million pounds (Rs 143 crore).
Buddha statue in bhumisparsha mudra
A 12th-century bronze idol of Gautam Buddha seated in bhumisparsha mudra (earth-touching gesture), was stolen from a Buddhist monastery in 1961. It finally made its way back to India in May last year. It was one of 14 statues ransacked from the Archaeological Museum in Nalanda, in Bihar, in 1961. The sculpture was handed over to then Indian high commissioner to the UK YK Sinha in a ceremony coinciding with Independence Day.
Sculpture of Vrishanana Yogini
Nearly 1,000 years ago, the sculpture of Vrishanana Yogini – a buffalo-headed female deity – was carved on stone and installed in a village temple in Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand. But one day, the 4.5-foot tall sculpture, which weighed more than 400 kg, vanished. It was stolen from the temple and sold to an art collector in Paris.
It was only in 2014, after the Indian embassy in Paris traced the missing 10th-century idol with the help of the widow of the man who had acquired and donated it to the mission, that the idol was flown back to Indian soil. Now, it is put up on display at National Museum in New Delhi.
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From Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Amid widespread criticism and scrutiny over India’s stolen artefacts, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in January this year, agreed to return 15 Indian sculptures that it learnt were trafficked. The items included all works that were sold by Subhash Kapoor, a convicted Indian-American antiquities dealer, arrested by Interpol in Germany in 2011.
Kapoor is currently serving a 10-year prison term in Tamil Nadu.
The items returned included Madhya Pradesh’s sandstone Celestial Dancer (Apsara) valued at more than $1 million, West Bengal’s Yakshi Terracotta from the 1st century BCE, a 10th-century bronze sculpture of God Revanta Returning from the Hunt and a 15th-century Parikara (backplate), according to a report by The Indian Express.
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The list also featured a 1st-century ceramic pot from Chandraketugarh, a stone bust of Kamadeva, the God of Love, from the second half of the 8th century CE, and a Svetambara enthroned Jina.
Shiva idols from Australia
The Australian Government returned two Indian artefacts in 2014. These included a 900-year-old bronze idol of Siva Nataraja (Lord Shiva as a cosmic dancer within a circular frame symbolising a halo) and a stone sculpture of Ardhanarishvara, a depiction of a union of male and female energies – a fusion of Shiva and Parvati.
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According to reports, the National Gallery paid USD 5 million for the Shiva statue in February 2008. Meanwhile, the Ardhanarishvara statue was bought by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. They were returned to India by then-Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Both of the artefacts are said to be from the Chola period. The Cholas, believed to be the longest-ruling dynasties in the world, have their references found as early as the 3rd century BCE.
From Glasgow Museums
In August 2022, Glasgow Museums in the Scotland capital had agreed to return seven of India’s stolen artefacts, which had been gifted to them. While six of them included 14th Century carvings and 11th Century stone door jams stolen from shrines and temples in the 19th Century, the seventh item was a ceremonial sword (talwar) with its scabbard, which was stolen in 1905 from the collection of the Nizam of Hyderabad.
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This was reportedly the first repatriation of stolen artefacts from a UK museum. It is no secret that the United Kingdom has some of India’s most precious heritage antiquities that were seized or gifted during British rule in India.
The items received from Glasgow were believed to be from Kanpur, Kolkata, Gwalior, Bihar and Hyderabad, some o them more than 1,000 years old. Welcoming the return of the items, Sujit Ghosh, the deputy Indian high commissioner was quoted by BBC as saying, "These artefacts are an integral part of our civilisational heritage and will now be sent back home.”
