US returns stolen antiques worth $10 million to India

A sandstone sculpture looted from Madhya Pradesh in the 1980s and another in green-grey schist from Rajasthan in the 1960s are among the over 1,400 antiquities collectively worth about $10 million that the US has returned to India. Nearly 600 more similarly stolen items are scheduled to be repatriated in the coming months.

According to a statement from Manhattan district attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr, the pieces were returned at a ceremony with Manish Kulhary from the consulate-general of India in New York and Alexandra deArmas, a group supervisor from Homeland Security Investigation of the New York Cultural Property, Art, and Antiquities Group. “At least 1,440 antiquities collectively valued at $10 million were returned to India at the event,” Bragg said in a statement.

The sandstone sculpture depicting an apsara (celestial dancer) was looted from a temple in Madhya Pradesh in the early 1980s. The thieves had broken the sculpture into two halves to facilitate smuggling and illicit sale and by February 1992, the two halves were illegally imported from London into New York, professionally reassembled, and donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), where it remained on display until it was seized by the Antiquities Traffic Unit (ATU) in 2023.

The second sculpture, Tanesar mother goddess, carved from green-gray schist, was looted from the village of Tanesara-Mahadeva in Rajasthan. First documented in the late 1950s by an Indian archaeologist along with 11 other sculptures of mother goddesses, the Tanesar mother goddess and her fellow deities were stolen one evening in the early 1960s, the statement said on 13 November.

By 1968, the Tanesar mother goddess was in a Manhattan gallery. After passing through two other collectors in New York, the Met acquired it in 1993, and it remained on display until seized by the ATU in 2022.

These antiquities were recovered under several ongoing investigations into criminal trafficking networks, including those of alleged antiquities trafficker Subhash Kapoor and convicted trafficker Nancy Wiener, the statement added. “We will continue to investigate the many trafficking networks that have targeted Indian cultural heritage," Bragg said.

The statement said during Bragg’s tenure, the district attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit recovered just over 2,100 antiquities stolen from more than 30 countries and valued at almost $230 million. It said about 1,000 antiquities, including more than 600 looted from India and recovered earlier this year, were scheduled to be repatriated in the coming months.

On 21 September, the Union ministry of external affairs released a press release that said "in keeping with close bilateral ties" to foster greater cultural understanding, the U.S. and the government of India had signed a Cultural Property Agreement in July 2024 to "fulfil the commitments made by President Biden and Prime Minister Modi to enhance cooperation to protect cultural heritage", as reflected in the joint statement issued after the meeting in June 2023.

On the occasion of PM Modi's visit to the US, the US side facilitated the return of 297 antiquities that had been stolen or trafficked from India. In a symbolic handing over, a select few pieces were showcased to the PM and President Biden on the sidelines of their bilateral meeting in Wilmington.

The antiquities belong to a period spanning almost 4,000 years, from 2000 BCE-1900 CE, and have their origins in different parts of India. A majority of the antiquities are terracotta artefacts from eastern India, while others are made in stone, metal, wood and ivory and belong to different parts of the country. Some of the notable antiquities handed over are:

• Apsara in sandstone from central India (10-11th century CE)

• Jain Tirthankara in bronze from central India (15-16th century CE)

• Terracotta vase from eastern India (3-4th century CE)

• Stone sculpture from south India (1st century BCE-1st century CE)

• Lord Ganesh in bronze from south India (17-18th century CE)

• Standing Lord Buddha in sandstone from north India (15-16th century CE)

• Lord Vishnu in bronze from eastern India (17-18th century CE)

• Anthropomorphic figure in copper from north India (2000-1800 BCE)

• Lord Krishna in bronze from south India (17-18th century CE)

• Lord Karthikeya in granite from south India (13-14th century CE)