Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on X, a social media platform, said he was extremely grateful to US President Joe Biden and the US Government for ensuring that 297 "irreplaceable antiquities" illicitly trafficked from India were returned. Prime Minister Modi said Sunday that he was extremely grateful to US President Joe Biden and the US Government for ensuring that 297 "irreplaceable antiquities" illicitly trafficked from India were returned. "Deepening cultural connect and strengthening the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural properties," he added.
In keeping with close bilateral ties and to foster greater cultural understanding, the artefacts are being returned, the ministry's statement said. The statement said the pieces would soon be "shortly repatriated to India". The selected pieces, it said, were even showcased to Modi and Biden at their bilateral meeting in Wilmington, Delaware.
In July 2024, the US State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in cooperation with the Archaeological Survey of India, Ministry of Culture, Union Government signed a Cultural Property Agreement to strengthen cultural ties. The agreement is also intended to align with the agreements by President Biden and Prime Minister Modi when they met in June 2023 to increase their cooperation in cultural heritage protection, as detailed in the Joint Statement, according to information from the Ministry of External Affairs.
The antiquities are from a time nearly 4000 years, from 2000 BCE – 1900 CE and are from different parts of India. The vast majority of antiquities belong to terracotta artefacts from the states of Eastern India, while stone, metal, wood, and ivory belong to different parts of the country.
As per MEA, the Apsara in sandstone from Central India, dated between 10-11th century CE; the Jain Tirthankar in bronze from Central India, dated between 15-16th century CE; Terracotta vase from Eastern India, dated between 3-4th century CE; Stone Sculpture from South India, dated between 1st-century BCE-1st century CE; and Lord Ganesh in Bronze from South India, dated between 17-18th century CE, were handed over.
The antiquities also included a 15-16th-century CE Lord Buddha standing in sandstone from North India, a Lord Vishnu in bronze from the Eastern India belonging to the 17-18th century CE, an anthropomorphic figure in copper from North India dating back to 2000-1800 BCE, a Lord Krishna in bronze from South India belonging to the 17-18th century CE, and Lord Karthikeya in granite from South India belonging to the 13-14th century CE.
A total of 578 cultural artefacts have so far been repatriated from the US to India since 2016. This is the maximum number of cultural artefacts returned to India from any other country.
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