New Delhi: In a historic move, Australia has repatriated 29 antiquities, including on the themes of Lord Shiva and his disciples, Lord Vishnu and the Jain tradition, to India, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s virtual summit with his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison on Monday.
The Prime Minister of India has inspected the antiquities, media reports quoted government sources as saying.
The earliest antiquity dates to the ninth to tenth century CE. The six different themes in which the antiquities range are: ‘Shiva and his disciples’, ‘Worshipping Shakti’, ‘Lord Vishnu and his forms’, ‘Jain tradition’, ‘portraits’ and ‘decorative objects’.
The antiquities, which are mostly sculptures and paintings, have been executed in a variety of materials. These include sandstone, marble, bronze, brass and paper, media reports quoted sources as saying.
The antiquities represent a large geographical region in India, and are from different states such as Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal.
The repatriation of the antiquities by Australia is being seen as a boost to New Delhi’s bid to get back the country’s heritage from across the world.
The antiquities include ‘Shiva Bhairav’, which dates back to the ninth to tenth century CE and was sculpted using Rajasthan’s sandstone. Another antiquity is that of the child-saint Sambandar from the twelfth century CE, according to an ANI report.
Modi also inspected a seated Jina sculpture from Mount Abu region in Rajasthan.
Australia also repatriated antiquities such as the portrait of Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad Yamin Lala Deen Dayal, a memorial portrait of Hiralal A Gandhi, and an untitled 'Manorath' portrait of donor and priests before Shrinathji.
Maharaja Kishen Persad Bahadur was an Indian noble who served as the Prime Minister of Hyderabad twice, during the early 20th century.
Shrinathji is a form of Lord Krishna, whose principal shrine is the Shrinathji Temple in the temple town of Nathdwara.
It was reported earlier this year that the Narendra Modi government has been instrumental in bringing back about 200 stolen antiquities to India from across the world.