India is on the hunt for treasures
NEW DELHI — The ancient temple of Kutumbari stood for centuries in Dwarahat in north India. Then one day in the 1960s, officials realized it had vanished from records — and later discovered it had disappeared altogether.
The Kutumbari is one of 24 monuments on a list of now “untraceable” protected monuments in India. Some have gone missing because of inadequate or antiquated record-keeping; others have physically disappeared, destroyed by natural disasters or by humans.
Last week, after repeated calls by Indian parliamentarians to locate lost monuments, the Archaeological Survey of India, the government agency responsible for the conservation of heritage buildings and artifacts, instructed its local affiliates to redouble efforts to find a cache of missing antiquities that includes medieval tombs, inscribed tablets and temples. Some of the items on the list have been lost for decades.
The search revived concerns from historians and archaeologists about whether India’s centuries-old historical treasures are being protected as the country chases development targets.
As India’s fortunes rise, a poorly staffed bureaucracy has overseen decades of growth. Successive leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stressed the need for new roads, housing and infrastructure to keep pace with the growing population’s needs.
But with the emphasis on rapid development, hundreds of India’s ancient monuments, and with them millennia of history, could be lost, damaged or degraded.
“We have lost sight of the value of these things,” said Swapna Liddle, convener of the Delhi chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.
With local authorities and private companies racing to develop land, Liddle said, protected areas surrounding monuments are increasingly valuable. Monuments can get in the way of plans to construct new metro lines, roads and housing developments.
“What we have to ask ourselves is, are we going to sacrifice our heritage for development goals?” she said.
The list of untraceable monuments, Liddle said, points to a wider problem in heritage conservation in India: Monuments that aren’t major tourist attractions are more likely to fall into disrepair.
Many monuments are not properly labeled, so locals are unaware of their historical significance, Liddle said.