The United States handed over some of the valuable Indian antiquities at a special repatriation ceremony held at the Indian Consulate General in New York in the presence of India’s Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Consul General Randhir Jaiswal, and Manhattan Borough officials. . Lawyer’s Office.
Addressing the ceremony, Sandhu said the 100 antiquities being repatriated to India “are not just art, but part of our heritage, culture and religion.”
Sandhu said that when this lost heritage returns home, it is received with great emotion. The antiquities will soon be transported to India.
The 105 artifacts represent a wide geographic distribution in terms of their origin in India: 47 from East India, 27 from South India, 22 from Central India, 6 from North India and 3 from West India. India, according to an official statement.
“Spanning a period from the 2nd-3rd century CE to the 18th-19th century CE, the artifacts are made of terracotta, stone, metal, and wood. About 50 artifacts relate to religious themes [Hinduism, Jainism and Islam] and the rest are culturally significant,” he said.
During Prime Minister Modi’s state visit to the US last month, the Indian leader thanked President Joe Biden for assisting in the return of these cultural properties.
Sandhu expressed his gratitude to the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Homeland Security officials and other agencies for their commitment and efforts in helping bring many sick artifacts to India.
“To prevent illegal trade in cultural property, India and the US have agreed to work towards a Cultural Property Agreement. This will further strengthen collaboration between our agencies and make it more difficult for smugglers to evade the law.”
Sandhu added that the return of cultural heritage is a clear expression of goodwill from our friends and partners in the US.
Jordan Stockdale, chief of staff for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, said that for more than a decade, the agency, along with Homeland Security, has investigated drug dealer Subhash Kapoor and his accomplices for illegally looting and selling artifacts around the world. world.
Stockdale said last year that the United States had repatriated more than 300 antiquities to India. “However, we still have more than 1,400 recovered objects that we have not yet officially repatriated.”
“We are deeply appreciative of Prime Minister Modi’s kind words the other week at the White House and reflect the close collaboration that has led to the successful recovery of thousands of Indian antiquities. We will not allow self-serving traffickers like Kapoor to rob countries of their precious cultural heritage. Stockdale said.
India has been making concerted efforts to recover stolen Indian antiquities, the living symbols of India’s rich heritage and culture, from abroad.
In recent years, there has been close cooperation on the restitution of antiquities between India and the United States, according to the statement.
During Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the US in 2016, the US side handed over 16 antiquities. Similarly, in 2021, the US government handed over 157 artifacts which returned to India following the Prime Minister’s visit to the US in September 2021.
With these 105 antiquities, the US side has delivered a total of 278 cultural artifacts to India since 2016, he added.