16 Indian Antiquities from US to be Returned Back

Oct. 29, 2023

Why in the News?

From a terracotta plaque depicting a standing figure with two attendants to a bronze sculpture depicting Lord Krishna, there are around 105 antiquities that were returned back to India from the United States two weeks ago.
Process is on to bring back 16 more antiquities that were smuggled to the US.

What’s in Today’s Article?

What is an Antiquity?

The Antiquities and Art Treasures Act (1972), defines “antiquity” as –
- any coin, sculpture, painting, epigraph or other work of art or craftsmanship;
- any article, object or thing detached from a building or cave;
- any article, object or thing illustrative of science, art, crafts, literature, religion, customs, morals or politics in bygone ages;
- any article, object or thing of historical interest.
The minimum time for any of the above mentioned items to be considered as antique is 100 years.
- For “manuscript, record or other document which is of scientific, historical, literary or aesthetic value”, this duration is “not less than 75 years.”

International Conventions w.r.t. Antiquities:

The UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property is an international treaty.
The convention urges States Parties to take measures to prohibit and prevent the illicit trafficking of cultural property.
It provides a common framework for the States Parties on the measures to be taken to prohibit and prevent the import, export and transfer of cultural property.
To date, the Convention has been ratified by 143 states (including India).
In 2000, the General Assembly of the UN and the UN Security Council in 2015 and 2016 also raised concerns on the issue.
An INTERPOL report in 2019 said that almost 50 years after the UNESCO convention, “the illicit international traffic of cultural items and related offences is sadly increasingly prolific.”

Indian Laws w.r.t. Antiquities:

In India, Item-67 of the Union List, Item-12 of the State List, and Item-40 of the Concurrent List of the Constitution deal with the country’s heritage.
Before Independence, an Antiquities (Export Control) Act had been passed in 1947 to ensure that “no antiquity could be exported without license.”
Post-independence, the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 was enacted.
Further, the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 (AATA) was implemented in 1976.
- Under the AATA, no person carry on the business of selling or offering to sell any antiquity except in accordance with the terms and conditions of a licence.
- This licence is granted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

What is ‘Provenance’ and How is the Ownership of an Antiquity Checked?

Provenance includes the list of all owners from the time the object left its maker’s possession to the time it was acquired by the current owner.
The first thing in order to prove the ownership is the complaint (FIR) filed with the police.
Under the UNESCO 1970 Convention, a requesting party has to furnish the documentation and other evidence necessary to establish its claim for recovery and return.

How to Check for Fake Antiquities?

Under section 14(3) of the AATA, “Every person who owns, controls or is in possession of any antiquity” shall register such antiquity before the registering officer “and obtain a certificate in token of such registration.”
So far, the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities, launched in March 2007, has registered 3.52 lakh antiquities among the 16.70 lakh it has documented, to help in “effective check” of illegal activities.
This is a very small portion of the total number of antiquities in the country (estimated to be around 58 lakh).

Can India bring back Antiquities?

There are three categories –
- Antiquities taken out of India pre-independence;
- Those which were taken out since independence until March 1976, i.e. before the implementation of AATA; and
- Antiquities taken out of the country since April 1976.
For items in the first two categories, requests have to be raised bilaterally or on international fora.
Antiquities in the second and third categories can be retrieved easily by raising an issue bilaterally with proof of ownership and with the help of the UNESCO convention.

News Summary:

In an RTI response filed by the Indian Express, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) confirmed that “105 antique art objects have been repatriated in the month of August 2023 from USA. Cases of repatriation of antiquities with other countries are in progress”.
- Most antiquities depict gods and goddesses such as Shiva, Lakshmi, Ganesh, Vishnu, Surya, Kubera and Krishna, besides two Tirthankaras.
- Sources said most of the returned antiquities (27 of 105) are estimated to be from 2nd-3rd century CE, 16 from 6th-7th century CE, 13 from 12th-13th century CE, and 15 from 15th-17th century CE.
- Four of the youngest antiquities from this lot are from 18th-19th century CE.
Process is on to bring back 16 more antiquities, which were returned by New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met).
Besides the 105 antiquities, over 250 artefacts, categorised as “non-antiquities”, are expected to arrive in India soon.
Over the last few years, several antiquities have been retrieved from different countries including the US, Australia and Germany, among others.

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