Two stolen temple idols repatriated to India from US, another Chola-era statue to be brought home in 3 years

New Delhi: India has repatriated two stolen idols from the Smithsonian Museum in the United States, including a 16th-century Vijayanagara-period idol of Saint Sundarar with Paravai and a 12th-century Chola-period Somaskanda idol. A third idol, a Chola-era Shiva Nataraja circa 990 CE, has been formally handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) but will remain on display in the US for three years under an agreed loan arrangement.

Additionally, over 600 art objects of Indian origin have been handed over by US law enforcement agencies to India's Embassy in Washington and will be transported back to the country shortly, Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference at the National Museum, Janpath, New Delhi, Shekhawat described the repatriation of the three historic bronzes from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art as “a significant milestone in India's ongoing efforts to bring back stolen cultural treasures and strengthen ethical museum practices globally.”

The two bronze idols, the Somaskanda (Shiva and Uma) and the Saint Sundarar with Paravai, arrived in New Delhi on May 12. The Shiva Nataraja, originally belonging to the Sri Bhava Aushadesvara Temple in Thanjavur district and photographed there in 1957, will be repatriated after the conclusion of its current display in the Smithsonian exhibition ‘The Art of Knowing in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas’. India has agreed to a three-year loan arrangement for the sculpture from 2025 to 2028.

The Saint Sundarar with Paravai idol was photographed in 1956 at the Shiva Temple in Veerasolapuram village, Tamil Nadu, while the Somaskanda was photographed in 1959 at the Visvanatha Temple in Alattur village, Tamil Nadu. All three sacred temple bronzes had been illicitly removed from India in the mid-20th century. Shekhawat said that the French Institute in Pondicherry helped the ministries with photographs.

The ASI, through provenance research using archival records, field documentation and historical temple photographs from the 1950s and 1960s, successfully traced the artefacts to their original temple sites in Tamil Nadu. The findings formed the basis for coordinated negotiations involving the Ministry of Culture, the Smithsonian Institution and the Embassy of India in the United States.

Shekhawat further said that recently, 657 art objects of Indian origin were handed over by US law enforcement agencies to the Embassy of India in the United States, with arrangements underway for their transportation and verification by ASI experts.

The Minister said that since 2014, India has successfully repatriated 666 antiquities from various countries, including 653 since 2014 alone, through sustained diplomatic, legal and institutional efforts.

In March this year, eleven antiquities were received from the High Commission of India in Australia, including eight repatriated from the National Gallery of Australia and three from the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The antiquities include Shunga-period terracotta objects, a Pala-period sculpture of Varaha, an 11th century Bodhisattva sculpture and a wooden sculpture of Brahma.