US returns nearly 300 smuggled artifacts to India

In recent years, rumors have swirled in the art world about smuggled antiquities being returned to their countries of origin. Now, a trove of artifacts from India, stolen centuries ago, is finally coming home.

On Saturday, 297 cultural artifacts dating from 2000 BCE to 1900 CE were handed over to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting with President Joe Biden in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, CNN reported. The U.S. government helped facilitate the repatriation of the smuggled artifacts, which included everything from terracotta sculptures to vases mostly from eastern India. Other items made of stone, metal, wood and ivory are believed to have come from other parts of the country.

“The Prime Minister (Modi) thanked President Biden for his support in returning these artifacts,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a press statement. Modi said the looted items “were not just part of India’s historical material culture but were the inner core of its civilization and consciousness.”

As part of the symbolic handover, selected exhibits were displayed to the Prime Minister and the President during their bilateral meeting. One of the exhibits on display over the weekend was a bronze statue of a Jain Tirthankara from central India dating back to the 15th or 16th century AD. A sandstone sculpture of an Apsara, a celestial being in Hindu and Buddhist culture dating back to the 10th-11th centuries AD in central India, was also on display.

In July 2024, the US and India signed an agreement on cultural heritage to combat trade in stolen artefacts between the two countries. The pact is also intended to streamline the process of returning illegally traded relics to their rightful owners. The agreement was signed by US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti and Union Secretary for Culture Govind Mohan.

Since 2016, India has recovered a total of 578 ancient artifacts from the United States alone. Two years ago, the United States handed over 370 stolen items to India, worth a combined $4 million. According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the items were seized from disgraced New York art dealer Subhash Kapoor, who illegally exported antiquities from the Middle East and Southeast Asia. After a 15-year investigation by U.S. authorities, Kapoor was sentenced in 2022 to 10 years in prison in India.