US returns 297 priceless artefacts to India
The US returned 297 priceless artefacts, including an artefact that is almost 4,000 years old and originates in the northern part of India. The Ministry of External Affairs said on Sunday: “The US facilitated the return of 297 artefacts that had been stolen or trafficked from India.” These will shortly be repatriated to India.
The total number of cultural artefacts returned from US to India since 2016 now stands at 578. In a symbolic handing over, a select few pieces were showcased to PM Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden on the sidelines of their bilateral meeting in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday.
“These objects were not just part of India’s historical material culture, but formed the inner core of its civilisation and consciousness,” an MEA statement quoted Modi as having said. The artefacts belong to a time period spanning almost 4000 years, from 2000 BCE-1900 CE and have origins in different parts of India. A majority of them are terracotta artefacts from east India, while others are made of stone, metal, wood and ivory and belong to different parts of the country.
Some of these are: Anthropomorphic figure in copper from north India belonging to 2000-1800 BCE; apsara in sandstone from central India from 10-11th century CE; Jain Tirthankar in bronze from central India (15-16th century CE); Terracotta vase from east India (3-4th century CE); and stone sculpture from south India (1st century BCE-1st century CE), among others. The US State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Archaeological Survey of India had signed a ‘cultural property agreement’ in July 2024.
