Home Coming! Stolen Annapurna Returned To UP Govt After 100 Yrs

The idol of ancient Goddess Annapurna brought back from Canada undertook a journey of over 800 km from Delhi to its original location in Uttar Pradesh on November 11. G Kishan Reddy, Minister for Tourism, Culture and DoNER, said that the idol would be placed in the Kashi Vishwanath Temple on November 15.

Several ministers from the State Government would accompany the idol in the five-day long 'Shobha Yatra'. The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) received the article on October 5 from a Canada-based gallery after a century.

In a Mann ki Baat episode last year, Prime Minister Modi confirmed that a century-old article stolen from India would soon be brought back. The 18th-century piece was carved in Benaras style was a part of the MacKenzie Art Gallery at the University of Regina, Canada. Thomas Chase, the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Regina, said that the university had a responsibility to rectify historical wrongs and help to overcome the damaging legacy of the colonial past whenever possible.

Sculpture Was Stolen In 1913

Divya Mehra, a Winnipeg-based artist, came across a Lord Vishnu article holding a rice bowl during her research in 2019. After reading up further and looking into the records, she found that the sculpture was stolen from India in 1913. Mehra's research showed that the idol's owner, lawyer Norman MacKenzie, had seen the statue during an India trip in 1913 where someone stole it for him from a temple on the riverbank in Varanasi.

According to The Indian Express, the interim CEO at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, John Hampton, agreed to repatriate the statue to India. The Indian High Commission in Ottawa and the Department of Canadian Heritage reached out to the researcher and offered to assist in the repatriation. The idol's return to India was initially scheduled in December 2020 but was delayed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Should UK Follow Suit?

In a symbolic act, earlier this week, France transferred ownership of 26 treasures that were looted from Benin during colonial times. Germany is also open to institutions. The list of Indian artifacts that were stolen in colonial times and are now in the United Kingdom is long. The British Empire was the largest colonial power in its time, and India was its biggest colony, the "jewel" of the crown.

Artifacts that the British seized, looted or took away as "gifts" include the 105.6-karat "Koh-i-noor" diamond, the Buddha's shrine from the Amaravati monument, and a wooden tiger that was seized from Tipu Sultan after he was defeated by the British.

The road to restitution is a tricky one in the UK as well in India, where there are no established processes to take back artifacts and some experts claim Indian authorities do not take care of such items properly.

Heritage theft is a rampant problem in the country, with UNESCO saying poverty in the country fuels the theft of antiquities, and poor protection of historical monuments also adds to the problem.

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