New
Delhi, Sept 19: India will step up its efforts to bring back artefacts that
have been illicitly trafficked out of the country, External Affairs Minister,
Mr Salman Khurshid, said today.
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| Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch, Hon'ble Minister of Culture and Shri Salman Khurshid, Hon'ble Minister of External Affairs inaugurating the Exhibition "Return of the Yogini" at National Museum in New Delhi today. |
“We
should bring back our stolen antiquities. The government will provide all the
support in the endeavour,” the minister told reporters at the National Museum
where he jointly inaugurated an 18-day exhibition on ‘Return of the Yogini’,
along with Union Culture Minister, Mrs Chandresh Kumari Katoch.
“It
takes a lot of efforts to ensure the return of pilfered antiquities,” he said,
hailing the sustained endeavour of the Indian Embassy in Paris and Delhi’s
National Museum, where the 4.5-foot-tall sculpture would be on display till
October 6. The event is unique, as it is the first time an Indian museum is
holding single-object exhibition.
 |
| Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch, Hon'ble Minister of Culture and Shri Salman Khurshid, Hon'ble Minister of External Affairs viewing "Vrishanana Yogini" after inaugurating the exhibition "Return of the Yogini" at the National Museum in New Delhi today. |
Earlier,
the two ministers were given a detailed presentation on the Yogini, the female
representative of India’s mystical cult. National Museum Director-General Dr
Venu V, along with curators Anupa Pande and E Dawon, explained to Mr Khurshid
and Mrs Katoch the systematic work that
resulted in the return of the
1100-year-old Vrishanana Yogini, with
the buffalo-shaped head, that was stolen from a worn-out temple in a sleepy
Lokhari village of Uttar Pradesh.
Vrishanana Yogini, with the buffalo-shaped head, weighs
nearly 400 kg, and was illegally trafficked to the French capital, where it was
acquired by a private art collector, Robert Schrimpf. His widow, Mrs. Martine Schrimpf, donated it
to the Indian embassy in Paris in 2008. “The artefact was was stolen from the
temple recently, certainly after 1986,”
revealed Dr Venu.
 |
| Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch, Hon'ble Minister of Culture and Shri Salman Khurshid, Hon'ble Minister of External Affairs viewing "Vrishanana Yogini" after inaugurating the exhibition "Return of the Yogini" at the National Museum in New Delhi today. |
India
has been losing a large number of antiquities through illicit trafficking in
cultural properties. Many of these end
up in the hands of collectors, and even in prominent museums of the world. The yogini temples, situated in isolated
locations, have become easy targets for local theft, which ensures their
clandestine passage in the international market. For instance, the yogini
sculptures from Kanchipuram are now in leading museums across the world, such as
the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto,
Freer-Sackler Gallery of Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. and the
British Museum in London.
