The Island Editorial

Stolen treasures

22nd October 2015

 

Singapore has decided to return to India an eleventh-century bronze sculpture, depicting Hindu Goddess Uma Parameshvari, as we reported yesterday. The Asian Civilisations Museum of Singapore had purchased the artifact from a disgraced New York art dealer for USD 650,000 in 2007, the news item said.

The Indian goddess will now return to the country of her origin after years of displacement! The aforesaid news report reminds us of our own Tara Devi statue kept at a British museum. It is only one of the many priceless artifacts colonialists and/or other thieves have removed from this country.

The theft of artifacts is a lucrative, international racket. Hardly a day passes without an incident of illegal excavation of an archeological site being reported in this country. It is believed that in spite of media reports that the IS terrorists are vandalising museums in Palmyra in Syria owing to their fanaticism, they are, in fact, smuggling out most of the invaluable antiquities which are in very high demand in affluent countries where collectors are ready to pay any amount of money for them. Although there is no irrefutable evidence to back this claim there may be some truth therein given the nexus between international racketeers and terrorist groups in the Global South. Terrorists wreaking havoc in Africa are used by multinationals to plunder diamonds, gold and valuable minerals like coltan.

Successive governments here have, over the years, made public their intention to recover the country’s stolen antiquities lying overseas. A comprehensive list of Sri Lanka’s artifacts kept in foreign museums the world over finds itself in Dr. P. H. D. H. de Silva’s A Catalogue of Antiquities and other Cultural Objects from Sri Lanka (Ceylon) Abroad’, which reveals that these invaluable items are in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, India, some European countries including the UK, the US and parts of South America.

Among Sri Lanka’s artifacts in foreign museums, according to a study carried out by a government-appointed committee a few years ago are, to name a few, a bronze Buddha statue in the Scottish Museum in Edinburgh, a Buddha statue and a bronze figure of Avalokiteswara in the Cleveland Art Museum, in the US and a precious ivory casket with intricate carvings in a museum in Vienna.

Mahajana Eksath Peramuna Leader Dinesh Gunawardena, MP, who once served as the Minister of Sacred Area Development evinced a keen interest in retrieving Sri Lanka’s stolen artifacts and initiated some action. He will be able to throw more light on this issue.

No sooner had President Maithriapala Sirisena been inducted than he ordered archeological excavations in Polonnaruwa. The search has already yielded some tangible results, we are told. Polonnaruwa is an archeological treasure trove and many priceless artifacts are bound to be unearthed in time to come. While this search is on, the President should take action to recover Sri Lanka’s antiquities in foreign museums and private collectors.

Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne has said, quoting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, that all world leaders hold President Sirisena in very high esteem. After all, no less a person than Queen Elizabeth gave him a glove-less handshake, as it were. So, he should be able to convince his counterparts in the countries where Sri Lanka’s artifacts are being kept the need to return those items.

It is incumbent upon the government to raise the issue of stolen antiquities at international fora and crank up pressure on the countries where they are being kept to send them back.