During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, the country handed over some 157 artifacts and antiquities to him. Interestingly, the items in the list are as diverse as they can be and most likely belong to the period between 11th and 14th centuries. 

A 10th century 1.5-metre bas-relief panel of Revanta in sandstone, a 12th century 8.5 cm tall bronze Nataraj figure, 56 terracotta pieces, a myriad of bronze figurines and copper objects, among others make up for the items in the list. 

As a matter of fact, the returned antiquities also include an 18th-century sword in its sheath, with Guru Hargobind Singh inscribed on it in Persian.

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“There are several historic antiquities as well, including a copper anthropomorphic object from 2000 BC and a terracotta vase from the 2nd century,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Saturday.

 “While 71 artefacts are cultural, the others comprise figurines relating to Hinduism (60), Buddhism (16) and Jainism (9),” it stated.

It was announced during the meeting that PM Modi and US President Joe Biden had “committed to strengthen efforts to combat theft, illicit trade and trafficking of cultural objects”.

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“In 2019, an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) team had visited New York and identified close to a hundred of these artefacts, seized in the US, as “original Indian antiquities of tremendous value”, known to be stolen from temples in Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh and smuggled abroad.” ASI ADG, Archaeology, Urmila Sant, told Indian Express. She revealed that they visited the US after a call about those seized artefacts. 

“We have identified about 100 antique objects, including idols dating to the Gupta period (5-6th century AD) and terracotta objects of Harappan culture,” she had said. Sant further added that “17 artefacts were seized by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security, from the storage of art smuggler Subhash Kapoor.”

These 157 objects will be sent to their original locations after a due process once they are received by the ASI from PMO.