Looted Indian art ‘may not be displayed if it is returned’

MUGHAL treasures looted by the British might never be displayed if they are returned to India, William Dalrymple has suggested.

Narendra Modi’s government wants to secure the return of artefacts taken from India during Empire.

But Dalrymple, a British historian based in India, said the situation was “complicated” because the Hindu authorities do not want to celebrate India’s former Islamic rulers.

“If you were talking about, say, Jewish art looted from the Rothschilds in Europe during World War Two, every single person in this room would say, ‘Yes, of course that loot has to be returned,” Mr Dalrymple told an audience at the Hay Festival.

However, besides the moral question, “an additional part of the problem is that, at the moment, India is ruled by a Hindu nationalist government that does not display Mughal items.

“Delhi – a Mughal capital – does not have even an entire room where Mughal items are displayed. You can go to Delhi and not see a display, at the moment, of Mughal art. But it’s there, beautifully displayed, in the British Library, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum. So these are not black and white issues. They are complicated.” Dalrymple has written many books about India including The Anarchy, a history of The East India Company.

He said that people need to be educated about the extent to which the British plundered India.

“The word ‘loot’ is a Hindustani word meaning plunder. It enters the English language in the 18th century to describe the sort of thing that was arriving in houses like Powis,” he said of the former home of Clive of India which currently houses his haul of Mughal treasures.

“It’s very important to realise the scale of this. Britain is basically a bottom of the First Division country until, on one hand, the East India Company gets going; and, on the other hand, the slave trade gets going.

“At this point in time, not enough people in this country understand how much of our national collections came through conquest, loot and pillage.

“You need first to educate people on the biggest thing this country ever did, which is to conquer.

“Today, there is a celebration somewhere in the world of some country’s liberation from Britain every six days. It’s the world’s most popular festival.”

Indian officials have indicated that they want to see the return of artefacts taken under “colonial coercion”.

Govind Mohan, secretary for the Indian ministry of culture, said: “It is of huge importance to the government.”