‘Shiva Nataraja’ among Chola period bronze sculptures repatriated from US

NEW DELHI: The government’s archival records and historical documentation in other institutions have helped the culture ministry to successfully reclaim three momentous antiquities, including a Chola period bronze sculpture, “Shiva Nataraja”, which were illegally taken away from temples in Tamil Nadu decades ago.

The objects were part of the collection at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in the US. The other two articles also bronze casting—“Saint Sundarar with Paravai” (16th century of Vijayanagara period) and “Somaskanda-Shiva and Uma” (12th century of the Chola period)—reached New Delhi on Tuesday night.

But the Shiva Nataraja will return in 2028 as they are displayed in an ongoing exhibition at the US museum. The government had agreed to leave the sculpture there till 2028 as a long-term loan.

While announcing the repatriation of the idols, culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Wednesday said the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had traced three valuable artefacts, and after thorough provenance research using archival records, field documentation and photographs of the temple taken in the 1950s-60s, it was established that they were taken out of the country in an unauthorised manner. The retrieved idols will be placed in the Gallery of Retrieved Antiquities at the Red Fort.