The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
The Road to Repatriation
A low profile group of volunteers is bringing home India’s lost artefacts
biggest repatriation of artefacts,” says Saxena, adding, “But this number is small, and it is just the beginning.”
It was an acquaintance that turned into collaboration when Kumar, a shipping professional working in Singapore, and Saxena, 40year-old who works for the World Education Foundation, established IPP in Singapore, where the two are based, in 2013.
“Our goal is to restore the nation’s pride by restoring its culture,” says Saxena. The trigger was the 2013 CAG report, that pulled up the Archaeological Survey of India for not taking “effective steps” such as collecting information about Indian artefacts coming up for sales internationally. In 2011, UNESCO estimated that 50,000 artefacts had been stolen out of India till 1989, a number which would have increased by now. Charting the route most of these artefacts take to the West, Saxena notes how local goons usually work in cognizance with smugglers to transport artefacts to Hong Kong, where false documents are made, and the pieces are shipped out to the West.
Over the years, the IPP has built networks across numerous levels, right from the sites from where these idols are found missing to getting details from FIRS registered to report their theft and tapping sources to inform them of forged documents. They arguably work closely with the US government’s Homeland Security Investigations department and security agencies across the world to track these idols and bring them home.
Aided by over 500 volunteers — including historians and art experts — the responsibilities between the duo are divided. While Kumar is a history buff and avid blogger who leads research and analysis, Saxena handles public interactions, including liasoning with government agencies. Their organisation has reportedly played a role in the return of several artworks, including the Nataraja and Ardhanarishwara statues from Australia and Uma Parameshwari from Singapore. In July 2015, the group traced the Chola Bronze Alingana Murthy — Shiva embracing Parvathy — to the Museum of Art at Ball State University in the US.
Investigating over 2,800 artefacts at present, Saxena, who often tours government offices in Delhi, feels that radical changes are required for more significant repatriations. “India is known globally as a ‘no-consequence zone’. It hasn’t prosecuted any significant heritage criminal yet. We also need to set up a heritage police, build a national archive and take steps to crowd source information on artefacts,” says Saxena, adding that as he speaks, a group of IPP volunteers are on a road trip in Tamil Nadu to document the Jain temples in the region. Unfortunately, the same week that the Ganesha returned home from Toledo, Sivan Temple reportedly lost some of its other artefacts in a theft.