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Journalism of Courage
NOTHING BETTER illustrates the challenges faced by India in its quest to recover antiquities stolen and smuggled abroad than the wall it has hit to get a J&K painting back from the United States for over six years, records reviewed by The Indian Express under the Right to Information (RTI) Act reveal.
Records show US authorities approached India in December 2016 with the offer to return the painting, “Goddess Saraswati and Rasikas”, which was seized by US authorities investigating the illegal trade of antiquities.
However, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) informed the Indian Consulate in New York of the J&K administration’s response that the “painting probably belongs to” the SPS Museum in Srinagar but “most of (its) records were damaged in devastating flood of 2014” — and there are now “no records as proof”.
The available proof, records show, is “a faint listing” on “the base” of the painting “showing it was purchased by the (SPS) Museum (Srinagar) in 1918”. Established in 1898, SPS Museum is the largest such facility in Srinagar and runs under the J&K administration. It holds nearly 80,000 items in its inventory.
“It is a proven case. The matter is not yet closed from our side, but there has been no movement on this since February 2017 when we sent our reply to US authorities through our Consulate,” a senior ASI official told The Indian Express.
The stalemate is captured in a timeline compiled from records investigated by The Indian Express:
December 2016: US Department of Homeland Security approaches the Indian consulate in New York, saying they have seized the Saraswati painting.
December 17, 2016: India’s Consul (Trade, Education and Commerce) in the US, Sreenivasa Rao Gudavalli, writes to ASI for documents from SPS Museum “for further pursuing the recovery of this item early”.
February 2, 2017: ASI writes to the J&K government (then a state) about the painting and requests “a copy of the FIR or any such document to show that the painting is stolen from the SPS museum”.
February 8, 2017: J&K’s then Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums responds that there is no report of a missing painting. “However the records pertaining to 1918 are not available in the museum as most of the records were damaged in the devastating flood of 2014… As such, the painting may be retrieved from New York for its display in SPS museum, Srinagar,” the file shows.
Files related to this exchange also cite a note written by an unidentified “reputed scholar” in 1978. It states: “I took a slide of this painting when I visited the Pratap Singh Museum in Srinagar.” The slide has “APR 78” written on the side, records show, suggesting that it was prepared in April 1978 and indicating that the painting went missing after that year.
February 23, 2017: ASI conveys the museum’s inputs to Sreenivasa Rao. The painting remains in the US.
The Union Ministry of Culture, the ASI and Indian Consulate in New York did not respond to a questionnaire sent by The Indian Express detailing its findings and asking about action taken by the Government in this regard.
🔎 The Indian Express’ Shyamlal Yadav looked at the catalogues of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts (Met) in New York and found that at least 77 of its oldest antiquities and 59 paintings are somehow linked to infamous art smuggler Shubhash Kapoor.
🔎 While you are here, check out a full list of the antiquities in the possession of the Met that are linked to Kapoor, who is currently in jail in Tamil Nadu on charges of burglary and idol theft.
🔎 Okay, so artefacts have been stolen from India and taken abroad. Why can’t we just bring them back? Well the biggest challenge India is facing right now is the gap between the artefacts that have been “officially” declared missing and what is surfacing in global markets and being found in museums.
🔎 What are antiquities and what are the laws that protect them? Read our explainer.
🔎 In part 2 of his investigation, Shyamlal looks at how over 90 antiquities from Jammu and Kashmir landed up at the Met. About two dozen have been linked to an American mathematician, an associate of a US-based antiques dealer on the radar of investigative agencies. Meanwhile, three are linked to Subhash Kapoor.
🔎 The road to recovering stolen antiquities has been a long and arduous one. But nothing better illustrated the challenges faced by India better than the wall it hit to get a J&K painting back from the US for over six years. Here is what happened.
🔎 Curious about these antiquities from J&K? Here is a full list of the items.
