India has received 657 antiquities from the United States, with a combined value of nearly $14 million. These artefacts were stolen from different parts of the country and trafficked through international networks before surfacing in the US art market.
Authorities have linked the smuggling network to disgraced art dealer Subhash Kapoor and convicted trafficker Nancy Wiener, as reported by Hindustan Times. The items were formally handed over at an event attended by Rajlakshmi Kadam from the Consulate General of India in New York.
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Announcing the repatriation, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg highlighted the scale of the issue. "The scale of the trafficking networks that targeted cultural heritage in India is massive, as demonstrated by the return of more than 600 pieces today," HT quoted him as saying, adding that more work remains to bring back looted artefacts.
Avalokiteshvara bronze statue
Among the returned pieces is a bronze statue of Avalokiteshvara, valued at $2 million. The sculpture shows the deity seated on a double-lotus base above a lion-supported throne. An inscription identifies the craftsman as Dronaditya of Sipur, near present-day Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
The statue was part of a larger discovery near the Lakshmana Temple in 1939 and was later displayed at the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum in Raipur. It was stolen from the museum and smuggled into the US by 1982, eventually appearing in a private New York collection in 2014.
Dancing Ganesha sculpture
A sandstone statue of a dancing Ganesha also forms part of the recovered items. The piece was taken from a temple in Madhya Pradesh in 2000.
In 2012, Nancy Wiener fabricated its provenance and sold it through Christie's in New York. The sculpture was purchased by a private collector before being surrendered to authorities earlier this year.
Buddha statue in abhaya mudra
Another key artefact is a red sandstone Buddha statue, depicted in the abhaya mudra, a gesture associated with protection. The sculpture is damaged, with broken lower legs and fragments of the halo missing, likely due to the circumstances of its theft.
Valued at $7.5 million, the statue was smuggled into New York by Subhash Kapoor and later seized from one of his storage units by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit.
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Cooperation behind the recovery
Consul General of India in New York, Binaya Pradhan, acknowledged the role of multiple agencies in the recovery process. He credited their "continued vigilance", stating it "made the recovery and return of these culturally significant artifacts possible", per HT.
