Subhash Kapoor, an art smuggler, is accused of running a major smuggling racket from South India. He has helped many international collectors and museums illegally acquire millennia old Chola bronzes and exquisite sculptures. Ongoing investigations have led to the discovery of 2622 items worth Rs 800 crore smuggled out of India. Despite all this collectors and museums across the world are refusing to divulge information about their illegal acquisitions of valuable Indian art.

The India Pride Project, a volunteer group set up after the Indian governments’ shoddy investigations and lame attempts to bring back smuggled art treasures frustrated, has taken to social media and online activism. Over the last four years, this group has painstakingly built a volunteer sourced image archive of Indian art works now being housed in overseas museums and art auction houses.

The results of these exercises have been startling – notable since the CAG performance audit report of 2013 paints a sad picture of how the custodians and legal authorities have been unable to bring back to India even a single smuggled artifact since 2001.

The group’s activism has ensured the return of art works like Sripuranthan Nataraja, Vriddchachlam Ardhanari (brought back from Australia), the Sripuranthan Uma and more. These have been returned with much fanfare during the visits of heads of state/government of Australia/Germany. You can see pictures of Modi with the returned Nataraja, Angela Merkel handing over the Kashmir Valley Durga (housed in Stuttgart) below.

One of the toughest cases to crack for the group was that of the Alingana Murthy from the Ball State Museum. In July 2015, the group broke the story of the Ball State University Museum of Art’s acquisition of the Chola Bronze Alingana Murthy – Shiva embracing his consort Parvathy. This exquisite piece of art, at least a millennium old, was ‘acquired’ through Subhash Kapoor’s smuggling network.

The India Pride Project knew from its experience of dealing with dubious artwork related projects that all related paperwork provided in such cases are dubious.

What set the group up with this artifact was its date of acquisition and the fact that it had a beautiful Tamil inscription on its base which read “Tipambapuram sivgai nayagar” ( loosely translates to Shiva, the lord of Tipambapuram)

Inscribed Chola bronzes are rare and to find one in this condition should have been a hotly discussed topic by scholars. However, the said bronze never came up in any discussion, paper, publication or exhibition till it was bought by the Museum. This must have raised a red flag immediately.

It was on this basis that the group raised serious doubts about the credibility of any provenance paperwork (indicating where the artwork came from and how it was acquired) work provided by the now defunct gallery. The response from the art gallery was that all due diligence had been carried out during the time of acquisition.

We understand that the University has now handed over the bronze to Homeland security America as part of a larger restitution process to India.

We can now reveal more information as to why the museum has changed its stand, with information obtained from persons who are in the know of the Kapoor operations. The bronze has an apparent provenance paper authored by the previous owner Dr. Leo S. Figiel dated April 13, 2005, where he claims to have purchased “the small Chola figure of Shiva and Parvati – from a European collector in 1969”. (Dr. Leo Figiel, was a well known collector of Indian vernacular art ( is now deceased – died Feb 2013) and is now suspected of having a working arrangement with Subhash Kapoor’s activities.)

Citing year of acquisition as 1969 is a very convenient and off repeated ruse seen in many fake provenance cases. 1969 is the cut-off year for the UN statue on Protection of Cultural Property which regulates arts and cultural property acquisitions. Most unscrupulous dealers try and pass off fake documentation with a pre-1970 date.

But at-least for Indian antiquities, the 1969/70 cut-off is no holy grail. There are other legal provisions for ensuring the return of smuggled artifacts. These include the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 which can be read in addition to Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904, the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 or even the Indian Treasure Trove Act of 1878.

That the bronze was never exhibited or published till the Museum purchased it, and the fact that the provenance letter itself is pretty vague should have raised serious concerns – if not earlier atleast after Subhash Kapoor’s arrest in 2011.

We now have images of the Shiva-Parvathy bronze in what appears to be a pre-repair condition. The color photograph is not from 1969. Further, the soil encrustations and damage are akin to those usually seen with freshly excavated bronze hoards. An expert collector especially of the stature of Dr Figiel with published works on Indian Metullurgy and Arms – especially given his seminal work “On Damascus Steel” in 1991, would have known that a bronze fresh from such an excavation in this condition must be immediately cleaned to stop advent of any bronze disease. He would have cleaned up the bronze as soon as he had acquired it.

We keep finding such buried treasures routinely to this day in South India. Such discoveries yield multiple centuries old bronzes. Some constitute entire bronze sets from temples – buried to prevent them from the onslaught of iconoclasts in the mid 14th century. We might never know where this particular bronze work of Alingana Murthy was found. We might never know if any other bronze works were found along with it and smuggled out of India.

Hundreds of bronze works like the Alingana Murthy were buried for centuries and were almost lost to the world because those who buried them probably died during the invasions. The Alingana Murthy and Parvathi are coming back home to take their place – thanks to the India Pride Project. Hundreds of other priceless Indian art treasures await their turn.

Credits – S Vijay Kumar
http://swarajyamag.com/culture/how-smuggled-indian-art-brought-home/

Indian antiques

Indian artefacts are stolen, smuggled and sold abroad for millions of dollars

Prof Kirit Mankodi, a retired archaeologist from Pune, traces stolen artefacts

He also provides details of existing artefacts to prevent their sale in case they get stolen

itting at a computer in his drawing room, this 75-year-old is busy surfing through various news reports across the globe. While he brushes away most of them, the ones with reference to any archaeological monuments immediately catch his attention. Similarly, magazines on arts and sculptures are on top of his daily reading list.

His eyes glitter, if a familiar sculpture is spotted. And then he begins a meticulous investigation about the sculpture, which ends only when the details about its origin and ownership are shared with Indian and international investigation agencies.

Meet Prof Kirit Mankodi, a retired archaeology teacher, now protector of India’s rich heritage. Mankodi has been working to trace stolen sculptures from India for over a decade now. After his retirement as professor of archaeology at Deccan College, Pune, in 2005, Prof Mankodi took it upon himself to trace treasures stolen from India and sold abroad.

“Mankodi has been working to trace sculptures stolen from India for over a decade now”

“India has the richest archaelogical heritage, which can’t be matched by any other country. Thousands of valuable sculptures have been stolen from the country over the ages. I think, as an archaeologist, it’s my duty to trace them and facilitate their retrieval,” Mankodi says.

The hunt

He embarked upon this “mission” when 2 sculptures were stolen from an ancient temple in Rajasthan in 2009. One of the sculptures was later advertised in an art magazine for sale. “It was a major blow for me, since I was actively involved in the excavation of the temple at Atru in Rajasthan. And the sculptures were stolen from right under my nose! I couldn’t have remained silent, so I began tracing it,” Mankodi recalls.

It turned out that the sculpture was advertised for sale in an art magazine by a London based businessman. When he came across the advertisement, Mankodi alerted the authorities at the Archaeological Survey of India, who passed on the information to Interpol and the US Department of Homeland Security. “They raided the London showroom, only to find that the sculpture has been moved from there. It was later traced in New York. The government of India has now initiated the process to retrieve the sculpture,” Mankodi said.

Mankodi has also traced 2 sculptures stolen from the Atru temple in Rajasthan. “The sculptures of two amorous couples, known in Indian art as Mithunas, were stolen from the ruins we had excavated at Atru. The first theft was on 23 April, 2009 while the second sculpture was stolen 5 months later. Surprisingly, the sculpture was advertised in the Hong Kong based art journal Arts of Asia in March 2010 issue on page 61. A London based businessman had advertised it. The sculptures were valued at US $2 million each. I immediately alerted the ASI authorities and the Indian High Commission in London was also alerted,” Mankodi said.

“Both sculptures were recovered with the help of the US Department of Homeland Security and Interpol and handed over to the government of India in January 2014,” Mankodi narrates. “It is a matter of immense satisfaction that I could trace and retrieve the sculptures stolen from the temple since I was part of the excavation team,” he adds.

Ashwin Aghor @CatchNews|8 February 2016

The 90-year-old is one of the most important names in modern Indian art and a contemporary of other greats like MF Hussain, SH Raza and Tyeb Mehta.

The stolen canvases were part of his signature Sad Town series painted in 1956 – a dark body of work depicting India in industrial transition, with the country’s mega towns battling unemployment, rising prices and migration from villages.

Kumar was decorated with the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honour, in 2010 and the Padma Shri in 1972.

Kumar stored the valuable paintings for the last five years in the basement of his home in east Delhi’s Bharti Artist Colony, where he lives with domestic help BB Shankar.

The theft was discovered on Sunday after Kumar’s son—settled in Australia — visited the Bharti Artist colony house and advised the artist to shift the works out of the basement studio.

“On Sunday, we went to the basement and found three canvases missing. Some other items were also missing but the three ‘Sad Town series’ paintings were the costliest. They have won several awards, including the Lalit Kala Academy award,” Kumar told HT.

According to the artist, a painting of his Sad Town series was sold for Rs. 4 crore during an international exhibition in London last year.

He said the stolen paintings were last displayed in an exhibition at the Lalit Kala Academy in Delhi four years ago.

Ajay Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (east), confirmed that a case of theft had been registered at Preet Vihar police station and a team formed to probe the crime.

In January 2014, Indian newspapers reported the return of three stolen sculptures — two amorous couples (known as Mithunas in Indian art), and a stone sculpture of a male deity from the US Immigration Custom’s Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security to the Indian embassy. The three sculptures were valued at $1.5 million (Rs 9 crore). While the news widely featured and was appreciated by all Indian art lovers, very few are aware that it would have been impossible without the efforts of a Mumbai-based professor of Archaeology, Kirit Mankodi.

Earlier, in 2010, Mankodi, an expert on Indian temples and sculptures, had helped Interpol trace the sculptures. He had identified one of the sculptures in an ad for sale in an international magazine. Mankodi immediately wrote emails to the Interpol and US Homeland Security with details about the sculptures, their place of origin and photographs of the site, before and after the theft. He also wrote emails to scholars, museums, art dealers and experts around the world to help locate the second one.

A digitally mastered image of a Buddha sculpture, stolen from a protected site in Bilhari, Katni, Madhya Pradesh. While part of the sculpture (right and top) remains attached to the site, the main statue has been missing since 2007.

Lost and foundMankodi, 74, who helped identify and establish the ownership of these sculptures, has since then been writing extensively about stolen artworks via email and on his website Plunderedpast.in. He has managed to create a database of over 15 such thefts, with details about their origin, pictures before and after theft as well as dates of FIR. The list includes sculptures from Sas-Bahu temples at Nagda in Rajasthan (2006), two Buddha sculptures from Bilhari, two stone sculptures of the Hindu god Ganesha and Hindu god Brahma stolen from the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Rani Ki Vav or the Queen’s Stepwell (underground reservoir) at Patan, Gujarat, in 2001, and many more.

A headless statue at Jina, Kota, Rajasthan. Mankodi says that there are thousands of such headless sculptures in India. “When thieves can’t take away the entire structure, they cut off its head and sell it in the market,” he says.

These are just some of the sculptures that have either been identified or reported lost. Mankodi believes that there would be many more. “I was able to identify these thefts because I had worked on these sites. There could be many more such sculptures, which have been stolen from India, and not reported,” he says. This could be highly possible considering Homeland Security and Interpol recently found artefacts worth over $30 million (Rs 180 crore) stashed at various warehouses owned by the New York-based Indian art dealer, Subhash Kapoor. The art dealer is currently undergoing trial in Tamil Nadu for allegedly stealing artefacts and exporting them outside India. According to the website hasingaphrodite.com, nearly 230 artworks have been traced from Kapoor to some of the most popular galleries in the world, including Australia’s National Gallery of Art (21), Metropolitan Museum of Art (81), Toledo Museum of Art (44), Boston’s Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. The dealings go to several millions of dollars.

Around four-five of the eight celestial women missing  from the ceiling of the Sas-Bahu temple in Nagda (above) are believed to have been traced to dealers, but bureaucratic laziness has prevented their return.

Art of the matter
“As unfortunate as it is, despite the huge size of the stolen artefact rackets, the Indian government has failed to form any individual organisation to monitor and trace stolen artworks from India,” rues Mankodi. Lack of efforts by the central and state governments inspired Mankodi to start the website. “To prevent such thefts from happening, and retrieve what has already left India, we need awareness. This is our heritage, our culture, and it must be preserved,” he says, adding, “I created the website so anybody — from international organisations, museums and galleries to art dealers, scholars or the common man is aware of such thefts and can alert us or the authorities about them.”

Saving our artefacts
Mankodi relies mostly on the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for details on recent thefts, and information from art dealers and other experts. “The ASI is not an investigating agency, so, it can’t investigate thefts. What it does is file an FIR when such a theft is brought to notice. I get all the information — the FIR number, the place from where the theft has taken place, the police station where the FIR is lodged, the date of theft, photograph and description of the artefact — and I put it on the website.”

His efforts have also helped trace two sculptures from Nagda Temple, which an art dealer had bought, unknowingly. The dealer offered to return the sculptures, but there has been no response from the Indian authorities. Mankodi advises all owners of old artefacts, including those inherited from their fathers to register them with the ASI as soon as possible. “Every owner of old artefacts must register it to the authorities under Indian Antiquities Law. But also because it will save you from any trouble, and help relocate in case of a theft. To claim a stolen artwork, you have to provide a link and establish the ownership. And for that, the best thing to do is to register it with ASI,” he adds.

Did you know? “Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are the three most vulnerable states in terms of sculpture thefts. These states are rich in temples; many in small villages are often unlocked and unprotected, and hence, vulnerable to thefts. While Tamil Nadu has an active department to look after thefts of artefacts, I am not aware of such organisations run by the other states or the central government,” Mankodi informs. Man on a mission

Author of several books on Indian temples and their architecture, Kirit Mankodi graduated in Ancient Indian Culture from St Xavier’s College, and holds a MA and PhD in Archaeology from Deccan College, Pune. He has taught at reputed schools and colleges like Pune’s Deccan College and College of Indology in Bhopal.

He has also authored several papers on the art and architecture of temples in professional journals. When he isn’t teaching or writing books, he is busy working on the website. “The website takes a lot of my time, largely because, before you I have to double check everything before I put it on the website. You cannot post inaccurate information because that would be wrong. Besides, I have to also stay updated on any new developments on the stolen artworks,” he signs off.