Withering away

The setting was perfect: Khajuraho, the ancient city of magnificent temples and stunning statues. And the message powerful: Return India’s “displaced” cultural treasures voluntarily.

The first G20 Working Group meeting of culture that began in Khajuraho on February 22 had in focus the voluntary repatriation of artefacts and antiquities taken away from India. What better platform for this message than a gathering of countries, many to which have been self-appointed custodians of historic treasures that belong to India. An exhibition, “Re(ad)dress: Return of Treasures”, was also put up to drive the point home.

Culture was included in the G20 agenda for the first time in 2020 during Saudi Arabia’s presidency when this group of the world’s most significant economies acknowledged its potential to contribute across social and economic spectrum.

India, meanwhile, has had some success in bringing back some of its artefacts.

Last year in August, in a first by a UK museum, Glasgow Museums agreed to repatriate seven artefacts to India. Among these were 11th and 14th century carvings and stone doorjambs stolen from temples; and a sword from the collection of the seventh and last Nizam of Hyderabad, then the world’s richest man.

The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, too, returned close to 30 Indian paintings and sculptures dating back to the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. It also returned artefacts bought from Subhash Kapoor, an art dealer who was later convicted for trafficking antiquities. The US, too, has given back over 150 such treasures.

When it comes to cultural heritage, India is clearly a country like no other. Sprinkled across its towns, villages, hills and remote hamlets are ancient artefacts that draw art thieves and swindlers like magnets. The seven items the Glasgow Museums agreed to return present a picture: Some are said to have come from Gwalior, some from Kolkata and others from Kanpur, Bihar and Hyderabad.

Every year, Indian antiquities are stolen, smuggled out and sold in a thriving grey market. The poor attention to heritage, its conservation and security is a reason these thefts are often just waiting to happen.

A theft in the Hyderabad museum in 2018, which has inspired a book (The Hyderabad Heist), was a rare case that was cracked in less than a fortnight. Like many others, this, too, was a cash-strapped museum with bare basic security that had little to hold thieves back.

A lot has been lost since the Koh-i-Noor. And a lot is being lost every year — not just to thieves but also to apathy.

Ten years ago, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) published a “Performance Audit of Preservation and Conservation of Monuments and Antiquities”. The CAG said it had selected this topic because “heritage structures, sites and antiquities are national assets”. The audit included a physical inspection of 1,655 of the 3,678 centrally protected monuments and sites spread across the country. The report, which was supported by pictorial evidence, was damning. It showed that let alone “less significant” sites, even iconic ones such as the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, Hampi and the Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad had signs of callous neglect. Pictures of the storage of art objects in museums showed priceless statues gathering dust in basements or stored alongside fire extinguishers, and even in staff quarters.

The CAG has since kept an eye on the progress. In a follow-up report last year, it said that while new initiatives had been taken for the management of monuments and antiquities, most of the recommendations of the Public Account Committee were yet to be complied with. This time, too, the report published pictures of cracks and black stains on monuments, of the plaster peeling off, of antiquities lying in the open, of “restoration” carried out with modern bricks and shoddy patchwork….

Even in the national capital, signs of crumbling heritage are in your face. Step into Chandni Chowk, for instance, where rickshaws stamped with G20 logos can these days be seen tearing through the central promenade carrying foreign tourists.

One of India’s oldest wholesale markets built in the 17th century, it is also a world of heritage havelis, many of which are now in a state of decay. There is, for example, the Khazanchi’s haveli that belonged to Shah Jahan's treasurer. It is said there used to be a tunnel under it that led to the Red Fort, but the British sealed it after the Mutiny of 1857, when Indian soldiers used it to smuggle weapons. With every passing year, this haveli gets more and more dilapidated. It won’t be long before it is gone for good. As will be several other such structures here. The laws don’t particularly facilitate their conservation.

There are hundreds of such treasures scattered across India: The unique stepwells of Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat; the crumbling forts; the ancient, forgotten temples…. all of which are withering away.

Let us get our cultural heritage back from the world. But let us also salvage the wealth we have at home.