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June 1, 2010 | India to join global campaign to retrieve captured heritage treasures | London/New Delhi: The Indian authorities have announced they will try to recover and retrieve thousands of allegedly looted objects held in Western museums. The head of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Dr. Gautam
Sengupta, told The Independent that the list of the country's treasures held abroad
is 'too long to handle' and there is need for 'diplomatic and legal campaign'
for their restitution from institutions including the British Museum, Royal
Collection and the Birmingham Museum and the Art Gallery. Among the items that are
being targeted for retrieval are the Koh-i-Noor diamond "presented" to Queen Victoria
in 1849 by Dilip Singh, the youngest son of Ranjit Singh, the Maharaja of Lahore.
Critics say the stone, part of the Crown Jewels, could not have been willingly
surrendered and was plundered by then British governor general, Lord Dalhousie.
Another item is the Sultanganj Buddha, named after the town in northeastern India
where it was found, was dug out of an abandoned Buddhist monastery in 1861 along
with other priceless artefacts under the direction of E B Harris, a pith-helmeted
functionary of the British Raj. Within months, the 1,500-year-old bronze statue
was shipped to Britain after a Birmingham industrialist, Samuel Thornton, secured
it for 200 pounds. Now the so-called "Birmingham Buddha" is one of the artefacts
at the top of a list of "stolen treasures". Then, according to The Independent,
is the Amravati railings, a series of limestone carvings dating from around AD100,
acquired from a Buddhist temple in Andhra Pradesh by Victorian explorers. And,
there is the Saraswati idol, a sculpture of the Hindu deity from the Bhoj temple.
Dr. Sengupta said India is looking to join a campaign with the support of UNESCO,
the United Nations body set up to preserve global heritage, alongside other countries
with longstanding complaints about the foreign ownership of their artistic riches,
including Egypt and Greece . "As efforts so far to reclaim stolen treasures have
proved futile, UNESCO support is required for launching an international campaign
to achieve this end. Not only India , various other countries like Mexico, Peru
, China , Bolivia , Cyprus and Guatemala also the voiced the same concern to get
back their stolen and looted antiquities and to join the international campaign,"
Sengupta added. While underlining the need to be "realistic" about the chances
of large numbers of items being returned, Dr. Sengupta said a list of "unique
items" that should be returned to their home countries was being drawn up by each
of the participating countries. "Once this list is ready, these countries will
jointly initiate a series of steps, including a diplomatic and legal campaign
to get back the lost treasures," he added. |
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